Abstract
As part of the political reforms initiated by His Majesty King Hamad of Bahrain, a new subject for citizenship education was introduced in schools in 2004. A collaboration between the Ministry of Education in Bahrain and the British Council provided the foundation for the curriculum policy that was subsequently developed by Bahraini specialists, based heavily on Western interpretations of citizenship. Although, citizenship education has been widely researched in a Western context, much less has been written about the applicability of these approaches in non-Western and post-colonial contexts. The thesis provides important insights into the normative underpinnings of citizenship in a Middle Eastern state and the approach used to inculcating citizenship in its citizens. As a result, this is principally a study of perceptions of citizenship held by the different stakeholders involved in developing the curriculum policy document, the student textbook, and the teachers assigned to teach the subject. The thesis aims to establish if principles of citizenship education adopted in Bahraini curriculum are compatible with liberal conceptions of citizenship that are encouraged by international organisations such as UNESCO or they stem, instead, from the local context (that aims to preserve the status quo through strengthening other conceptions of citizenship). To achieve this aim, the thesis employs a qualitative methodology, based on in-depth interviews, to understand what citizenship is in the Bahraini context, and how this relates to Western principles of citizenship education. As a mainly study of perceptions, the use of such methodology is best suited in order to explore the conceptions of citizenship held by the different stakeholders. Based on these data, the thesis argues that a Western approach of citizenship education cannot be applied in a non-Western and post-colonial context without serious tensions that will be evident in both policy and practice. The thesis shows that the socio-political context of Bahrain influences the perceptions of citizenship held by different groups in Bahraini society and that of the state.