Editing Politics of Bahrain (section)

===Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa===
Bahrain gained independence from the [[United Kingdom]] in 1971,<ref name=jehl7mar>{{cite news|last=Jehl|first=Douglas|title=Sheik Isa, 65, Emir of Bahrain Who Built Non-Oil Economy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/07/world/sheik-isa-65-emir-of-bahrain-who-built-non-oil-economy.html|access-date=10 April 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=7 March 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116202816/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/07/world/sheik-isa-65-emir-of-bahrain-who-built-non-oil-economy.html|archive-date=16 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> with Sheikh [[Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa]] as its ruler. In 1972, Isa issued a [[Amiri decree|decree]] for the [[1972 Bahraini Constituent Assembly election|election of a Constituent Assembly]] to draft and ratify a [[Constitution of Bahrain|constitution]]. The electorate of the constituent assembly was native-born male citizens aged twenty years or older. The Constituent Assembly consisted of 22 elected delegates, plus the 12 members of the Council of Ministers and 8 members directly appointed by the Emir.<ref name="FRD">[https://books.google.com/books?id=OsSPaxEpUS4C&pg=PA97 Bahrain], [[Federal Research Division]], 2004, [[Kessinger Publishing]], pp 97 – 98</ref> All elected candidates ran as independents.

The draft constitution enshrined the hereditary leadership on the Al Khalifa family and provided for a [[unicameral]] legislature (the [[National Assembly of Bahrain|National Assembly]]) consisting of 44 members, 30 elected by native-born male citizens, plus 14 royally-appointed government ministers who were [[ex officio member]]s. The [[1973 Constitution of Bahrain|constitution]] was enacted by decree in December 1973.<ref name="FRD" />

A [[1973 Bahraini general election|general election]] was also held in December 1973, the only election held under the 1973 Constitution. Two distinct political blocs formed amongst the 30 elected members. The "People's Bloc" consisted of eight Shia and Sunni members elected from urban areas and associated with left-wing and nationalist organizations, including the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain]], the [[National Liberation Front – Bahrain]] or the [[Baathist]] movement. The "Religious Bloc" was made up of six Shia members mostly from rural constituencies. The remaining members were independents with shifting positions.<ref name="FRD" /> The National Assembly found itself without legislative powers, but closer to a public forum where petitions were heard and government legislation and policies were presented, debated and criticized, though elected members of the assembly sought to gain legislative powers. The government did not acquiesce and the Emir continued to issue laws by decree and in 1974 a proposed [[State Security Law in Bahrain|security law]] sparked a political crisis between certain members of the Assembly and the government. The security laws would have granted state authorities extraordinary powers to arrest and detain suspects deemed to threaten national security. A bloc formed within the National Assembly opposed to the security laws and the manner in which the government imposed the law. The crisis came to a head in August 1975 when Isa dissolved the National Assembly, and the country continued to be governed under emergency laws until 2002.<ref name="FRD" />

Following the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic revolution]] in Iran in 1981, the Bahraini [[Shia Islam|Shia]] population orchestrated a [[1981 failed coup in Bahrain|failed coup]] attempt under the auspices of a front organisation, the [[Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain]]. The coup would have installed a Shia cleric exiled in Iran, [[Hujjat al-Islam|Hujjatu l-Islām]] [[Hadi al-Modarresi|Hādī al-Mudarrisī]], as supreme leader heading a [[theocracy|theocratic government]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953597-4,00.html |title=Gulf States: Stay Just on the Horizon, Please |author=Talbott, Strobe |date=25 October 1982 |magazine=Time |archive-date=3 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003125315/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953597-4,00.html |access-date=2 October 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> In December 1994, a group of youths threw stones at female runners for running bare-legged during an international marathon. The resulting clash with police soon grew into civil unrest.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-55237347 |title=Bahrain remains stable despite arson attacks that took place in the country |author=Darwish, Adel |date=1 March 1999 |work=The Middle East }}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83925934.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117074426/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83925934.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 January 2013 |title=The Rich/Poor & Sunni/Shiite Rift |date=18 March 2002 |work=APS Diplomat |access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref>

A [[1990s uprising in Bahrain|popular uprising]] occurred between 1994 and 2000 in which leftists, liberals and Islamists joined forces.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/1999/issue1/jv3n1a7.html |title=Rebellion in Bahrain |author=Darwish, Adel |date=March 1999 |journal=Middle East Review of International Affairs |volume=3 |issue=1 |archive-date=14 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414210838/http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/1999/issue1/jv3n1a7.html |access-date=2 October 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> The event resulted in approximately forty deaths.