Many participants in the Arab Spring uprisings voiced hopes for a freer or more democratic future. But in the Gulf States -- Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates -- did the protests inadvertently trigger a crackdown? Scholar and activist Dr. Hala Al-Dosari, a former fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the Washington Post, explains unintended impacts of the Arab Spring in the Gulf: "It created a kind of a scare reaction from, from the authorities and the Gulf states. It has been reflected in the type of collaboration, inter governmental collaboration across the Gulf as well as internal change in the control on the civil side, in the freedom of press, the freedom of expression...I think it had a very negative effect on on the small marginal window of opportunity that has developed before that, for the civil society to be engaged in, in the press or in the public discourses and discussions. It, it really limited the human rights defenders' work. There were a lot of people who are activists working in the ground were targeted for their work, from most of the countries targeted for criticizing the other countries...The Gulf security treaty that has been signed by the Ministers of Interiors of the Gulf that really allows the authorities in each country to track anyone, any citizen of other countries and get the information of that citizen provided more power for the state to legally target and inspect and censor citizens, regardless of the residence. So it brings...the Gulf countries' ruling families together, but at the same time, it really widened the gap between the ruling families and their citizens."

This interview is from the FPA archives.