Challenges Facing National Security in the Arab Gulf States: A Case Study of Bahrain
Dr. Sayel F. Al –Serhan, Dr. Ahed A. Mashagbeh, Dr. Mohammed T. Bani Salameh

Abstract
The study tackled the concept of security, its development, and the intellectual schools that dealt with the concept of security. The researcher then discussed the concept of national security based on the comprehensive concept of security that links the military, economic, and social dimension. The National Action Charter, which was passed on February 14, 2001, states that Bahrain's national security is "the fence and fortress for protecting the country and maintaining its lands and economic, social, and political gains, along with supporting the process of comprehensive development; especially in light of contemporary regional and international conditions and changes .The study showed that Bahrain's national security suffers from difficulties and gaps, and it faces various challenges. The small size of Bahrain and Iran's expansionist ambitions have imposed on the former the alliance with the United States, the establishment of military bases there, and deployment of Gulf military forces to the country in the face of the violence that broke out in 2011 .Despite the political reforms undertaken by Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa after he took office in 1999, the opposition's rejection of these reforms and their demand for constitutional monarchy, the adoption of a multi-party system, the cessation of the naturalization policy aimed at changing the demographic structure, etc., and playing on sectarian tendencies ( Sunni and Shiite) all show the social division in the political crisis that hit Bahrain in the wake of the Arab Spring revolutions, and the political situation coincides with the sectarian affiliation of large segments of Bahrainis

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