Deck 20: The Arabian Peninsula in the Petroleum Era

Question 1

King Faysal of Saudi Arabia expanded the state's education program to include all of the following EXCEPT __________________.

A) study abroad programs to US universities
B) new religious universities
C) new secular universities
D) a ban on women's education programs

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What prompted Saudi Arabia's intensive program to expand the kingdom's military capabilities?

A) The confrontation with Yemen during the late 1960s
B) The October War
C) The 1948 Arab-Israeli War
D) The growing socialist, anti-monarchy sentiment within Saudi Arabia

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What was the intention of five major producing countries-Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela-in the founding of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960?

A) To assert economic independence
B) To utilize the collective-bargaining power of its member states in order to pressure the Western oil companies to increase oil prices
C) To gain a greater measure of control over pricing policies
D) All of the answers are correct

Answer 3

D

Question 4

When Saudi Arabia viewed the Iranian revolution of 1979 as a major threat, which power supplied arms to the kingdom?

A) The Soviet Union
B) The United States
C) China
D) Venezuela

Question 5

Which of the following statements is not true of the seizure of the Grand Mosque of Mecca in 1979?

A) The man who led the seizure, Juhayman al-Utaybi, was inspired by Wahhabi doctrine
B) The Grand Mosque occupation lasted two years
C) Al-Utaybi and his followers broadcast accusations of corruption against the Saudi government and the ulama
D) The incident revealed the vulnerability of the royal family to charges of impiety

Question 6

Kuwait's "oil age" can be characterized by all of the following changes to the state EXCEPT ___________________.

A) the reliance on imported labor
B) the creation of a welfare state
C) the development of a close relationship with Iran
D) its new role as a player in Middle Eastern diplomacy

Question 7

Which of the following obtained formal independence in 1971?

A) the United Arab Emirates
B) Qatar
C) Bahrain
D) All of these answers are correct

Question 8

Particularly in the 1970s, the development boom among states in the Arabian Peninsula was largely fueled by _______________.

A) foreign military and economic investments
B) minimal foreign labor
C) oil revenues
D) All of these answers are correct

Question 9

In which of the following does political power in the Arabian Peninsula states rest?

A) hereditary dynasties
B) democratically elected representatives
C) divine order
D) foreign powers

Question 10

The al-Sabah ruling family was prominent in which Arabian Peninsula state?

A) Bahrain
B) Kuwait
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Oman

Question 11

Which of the following most accurately describes the circumstances allowing for King Faysal's ascent to power?

A) He was installed through a CIA-backed coup
B) When King Sa‛ud refused to send Saudi troops to Yemen in 1962, Faysal took power while promising a more robust national security strategy
C) The ulama backed the overthrow of Sa'ud when he threatened to undermine their religious authority
D) King Sa‛ud was deposed because his financial irresponsibility drove Saudi Arabia to the brink of bankruptcy

Question 12

Why did Saudi Arabia hesitate to send its own troops to Yemen in the 1960s?

A) It was wary of the Shi‛a Imamate in Yemen and thus welcomed the rebels' coup
B) Iran threatened to invade Saudi Arabia if it got involved
C) Saudi Arabia had a strong policy of non-interference in the affairs of fellow Arab states
D) King Faysal feared a sure military defeat

Question 13

Southern Yemen had been a protectorate of which imperial power?

A) Ottoman
B) Italy
C) Germany
D) Britain

Question 14

Which of the following received generous Saudi aid in return for muting their criticism of the kingdom and its ties to the US?

A) Hamas
B) Nasser's Egypt
C) Syria and the PLO
D) Lebanon and Hizbullah

Question 15

Which of the following most accurately describes the outcome of the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913?

A) The Ottoman Empire relinquished its control over Kuwait in return for greater autonomy over Baghdad
B) Ottoman Empire affirmed its right to control over Kuwait by reiterating its status as a part of the Basra province
C) When the Ottomans allied with Germany in World War I, Britain considered the 1913 convention to be invalidated and proclaimed Kuwait an independent principality under British protection.
D) Britain and the Ottomans came to an agreement: Kuwait would be partitioned between the two of them in an effort to stop German ambitions

Question 16

How did Kuwait "blunt the lure of Nasserism"?

A) Through a discourse of the Islamic legitimacy of its monarchy
B) Through a military alliance with Saudi Arabia
C) By buying off Arab nationalist sympathizers with its oil wealth
D) By creating a national assembly in 1962

Question 17

Which of the following Gulf states is NEITHER predominantly Sunni nor Shi'a?

A) All Gulf states are either majority Sunni or majority Shi'a
B) Bahrain
C) Iran
D) Oman

Question 18

Which of the following states ceased to be ruled by a single monarchical family after the 1960s?

A) Bahrain
B) Qatar
C) the United Arab Emirates
D) Yemen

Question 19

Which of the following came to be the largest, wealthiest state in the United Arab Emirates?

A) Dubai
B) Abu Dhabi
C) Sharja
D) Ras al-Khaimah

Question 20

In a referendum conducted by the United Nations, the people of Bahrain voted for independence rather than absorption into which of the following states?

A) the United Arab Emirates
B) Saudi Arabia
C) Oman
D) Iran

Question 21

Saudi Arabia, a wealthy oil-producing Arab state, also enjoyed great military strength.

Question 22

King Faysal of Saudi Arabia responded to hostilities in Yemen by mending fences with the northern Yemen Arab Republic and attempting to draw it into a confrontation with the People's Republic of the south.

Question 23

King Faysal of Saudi Arabia did not participate in the oil Embargo of 1973.

Question 24

Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in the eastern province of Dahran in 1938, and major commercial production began the very next year.

Question 25

Oman has neither a legislature nor a formal constitution; power is concentrated in the person of the sultan.

Question 26

The House of Sa'ud legitimized its rule in Saudi Arabia by claiming to be the protector of __________________.

Question 27

In Saudi Arabia, the __________________ is an organization tasked with ensuring the observance of Islamic practices among the population.

Question 28

In the nineteenth century, Britain sought to protect the route to India by keeping European powers and the Ottomans out of the __________________.

Question 29

In 1971, seven states under British tutelage united to become part of one federated state, the __________________.

Question 30

__________________, which started to export oil in 1934, was the first Arab Gulf state to develop a petroleum-based economy.

Question 31

Describe the events leading to the Oil Embargo of 1973.

Question 32

Describe the mutually beneficial relationship between the Sa'ud monarchy and the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia.

Question 33

In the nineteenth century, how did Britain interests in the Gulf states change the ruling landscape there?

Question 34

Describe some of the similarities in the development of Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

Question 35

How did the dominant ruling families within the Arabian Peninsula preserve their power?

Question 36

Briefly explain the threat Nasser posed to the Saudi kingdom in the 1960s.

Question 37

In some respects, the Saudi Arabia of the early 1980s appeared similar to Iran in
the shah's final years. In what way(s) did the two monarchies differ significantly?

Question 38

Briefly describe how the smaller states of the Gulf reacted when Britain announced its withdrawal in 1968.

Question 39

In what way did Bahrain's economy differ from that of its neighbors in the Gulf?

Question 40

Briefly compare the Yemen rebellion/civil war in the 1960s with that in the Dhofar province in Oman.

Question 41

In what ways were the Arab monarchies of the Gulf similar to (pre-1979) Iran? In what ways were material conditions in these states at odds with the politics of the respective ruling regimes?

Question 42

Did Saudi Arabia and/or Egypt act like great powers during their "cold war" that culminated in their involvement in the Yemen civil war in the 1960s? Why or why not?