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 PAPER ABSTRACT PAPER TITLE: The Prospect of Reform in The GCC Countries in The Arab spring Process NAME: Abdulnabi Alekry PANEL: 2 POSITION: Director INSTITUTION: National Center for Studies COUNTRY: Bahrain EMAIL: anhalekry@ ABSTRACT: More than a year has lapsed since the start of the Arab Spring, which began in Tunisia on 17 December 2011 and rapidly swept the Arab world from Morocco to Bahrain. It took everybody by surprise. The least susceptible to this sweeping wind of change were the GCC countries, according to the assertions of the GCC rulers and their theoreticians. To the surprise of many, including the opposition groups, Bahrain was the second after Egypt to capture the wind of change on 14 February 2011, while Oman was the fourth on 17 February 2011, and the rest soon followed, except Qatar. Very little has been written in the academic media on the Arab Spring in the GCC states, with the exception of Bahrain. What was regarded as a flash in the pan, proved to be a persistent and protracted struggle for radical change. In all the GCC countries, financial grants were offered to the citizens by their government. A GCC “Marshal Plan” was adopted to save the governments of Bahrain and Oman. This was accompanied by unprecedented campaigns to quell the protest movements, especially in Bahrain, where causalities continue to mount. The price Bahraini protestors pay is very high and the crackdown against them is ruthless, but it has not deterred their call for radical change. None of the ruling families of the GCC countries are ready to embark on a radical reform agenda. Indeed, the GCC regimes are increasingly coordinating their strategies to confront the calls for reform. Far from deterred, the interaction between GCC intellectuals calling for change has dramatically increased. This paper examines the prospects of the struggle for reform in the GCC as a whole and its member states. The 2012 Gulf Studies Conference Centre for Gulf Studies, Institut