Transitioning Power
Exploring Candidate Selection and Leadership Succession in the Persian Gulf Monarchies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.23.2026.103.05Keywords:
candidate selection, leadership succession, Gulf monarchies, selectorate, ruling families, political institutionalization, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)Abstract
The aim of the paper is to determine the degree of institutionalization of and the processes that are in place for the selection of a candidate for the highest office of the state in the Persian Gulf monarchies. The research is based on qualitative methods, including analyses of legal acts and available data from six countries in the region: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The authors propose a new and comparative approach to the study of candidate selection and succession in the Persian Gulf states by creating and verifying a theoretical model of candidate selection and a scale of inclusiveness. In the course of the analyses, a hypothesis was positively verified, which assumed that the selection of candidates for the crown prince is a process with a low degree of institutionalization, and the decision to choose the successor to the monarch/president belongs to a narrow circle of the ruling family. The degree of inclusiveness of the selectorate in the process of selecting a candidate or leader varies in individual countries, although a model granting competence to the ruler or his closest family predominates.
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