Islam and Capitalism in the Making of Modern Bahrain

In recent decades, the culture, society, politics, and economics of Bahrain have been transformed, driving its global ambitions while retaining to a degree the rule of law and cosmopolitanism. Islam and Capitalism in the Making of Modern Bahrain examines the transformation of Bahrain from the 1930s, from a regional trading port and then an important oil producer into the financial hub for the Gulf and into a global centre of Islamic finance. It focuses on the changes and tensions that transformation brought to Bahrain's political, legal, economic, religious, and social structures.

In this book, Rajeswary Brown explores the rising force of youth populism driven by the persistence of poverty and unemployment, notably among rural Shi'ite communities and unemployed middle-class youth, as well as examining Bahrain's skillful reconciliation of the demands of Islamic faith, expressed in the Sharia, to the requirements of modern financial capitalism. In this, Bahrain's experience can be set against the modern history of much of the rest of the Middle East, most strikingly with respect to the position of Islamic charities, notably in Syria, comparisons of which are fully explored here.

Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown, Emeritus Professor of International Business, Royal Holloway College, University of London

Born in Malaysia but resident in the United Kingdom from the mid-1970s, Raj Brown was educated at the University of Malaya and then at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). She subsequently held research positions at SOAS and at the London School of Economics (LSE). She also taught at SOAS and the LSE before moving to Royal Holloway College in the mid-1990s, rising in time to Professor in International Business. She has undertaken research fieldwork across many parts of Asia and the Middle East.