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150 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

of political and social modernisation. The transition from the tribal to the
municipal administration was not always smooth. Until the end of World
War II, the baladiyyah strengthened traditional chains of political author-
ity and social power. Membership in the council guaranteed the merchant
families of the pearl era and the ruling Al Khalifah family continued access
to decision-making and local influence. The position of merchants in
urban politics became much more dependent on pedigree and govern-
ment support than on foreign connections and wealth, as had been the
case before the reforms. With the connivance of the government, they
used to their advantage essential services provided by the municipality
such as elections, taxation and welfare.
Until 1957 local government was the bastion of the old propertied
classes, uniting merchants and rulers in a new institutional alliance. In
contrast with developments in Kuwait Town, where since 1938 old mer-
chant families used their monopoly over the baladiyyah in order to gain
political leverage against the Al Sabah, in Manama the municipality did
not provide merchants with an active forum of opposition to the ruling
family. 92 In an important sense the political quiescence of the old mer-
chant class in Bahrain is evidence of successful state centralisation in the
1930s and 1940s. Yet in the aftermath of World War II the conservative
alliance between the old notable class, the Al Khalifah and Belgrave was
no longer viable as Manama became the centre of Bahrain’s nationalist
movement. As patronage politics and sectarian divisions started to be
played out in the arena of nationalist and labour mobilisation, the short-
comings of the municipal regime became apparent on the backdrop of the
social and political effervescence of the oil era. Changes in the municipal
electoral system, for instance, can be viewed as a symptom of the decline
of notable politics and as an attempt on the part of the government to
co-opt a nationalist class in the making. Further, municipal intervention
in the markets was instrumental in channelling the resentment of the
Baharna population towards a new class struggle which was fuelled by
the populist propaganda of al-Ha’yah. In this respect, rather than acting as
a catalyst for political change, the municipality opened a window of
opportunity to the rising tide of discontent against the government,
Belgrave and the old notability. In doing so, it served as the platform for
the consolidation of modern political mobilisation throughout Bahrain.

92
In Kuwait the municipality also served as the platform for the Majlis movement which
advocated administrative reforms. See Crystal, Oil and Politics in the Gulf, pp. 46–55.