Reopening of the Naval Base of Britain in Bahrain: The Grounds and the Necessity

Subject Areas :

ali bagheri dolatabadi ¹ , jaseb nikfar ² , mehdi mohammadi ³

1 - assistant professor
2 - Assistant professor, political science department, Yasoj University
3 - Postgraduate student in political science, Yasoj University.

Received: 2015-11-15 Accepted : 2017-02-02 Published : 2017-02-01

Keywords: Security, Bahrain, Islamic Republic of Iran, Britain, interests,

Abstract :

Abstract: In late 2014 Britain reopened its naval military base in Bahrain after 43 years. The return of Britain coincided with turbulent situation in the Middle East. Developments like movement for democracy, rise of extremist Islamic groups, war and rivalry between regional powers caused the return of Britain to the region. The question raised here is “what factors lead to the return of Britain and its presence in Bahrain?” The hypothesis is that different factors have played role taking this decision but most important factor has been security concern of Britain and Bahrain in recent years. The finding of the study shows that factors like the rise of ISIS, preventing the balance of power in favor of Shiites, oil, support of allies, the geostrategic and geopolitics of Bahrain, ensuring the political, military security in Bahrain and on the whole changing the political and economic situation in the region in favor of Britain, been among the factors which led to the reopening of naval military base in Bahrain. The theoretical framework used for the paper is descriptive-analytical by using library and internet sources.