The monograph by Russian orientalists V. A. Isaev and A. O. Filonika is the first work in our country in the last 30 years devoted to the Kingdom of Bahrain, a small island state located in the middle part of the Persian Gulf ("The Kingdom of Bahrain. Experience of development in the context of changing resource orientation", Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of the Middle East, 2006, 292 p.). Bahrain is not a "heavyweight" in the Gulf Cooperation Council and its economic potential is largely inferior to its other members - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. Bahrain has a population of 0.7 million people, GDP per capita at the end of 2005 was 15.4 thousand US dollars (4th place after Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates), the country has natural resources: oil reserves are estimated at 30 - 35 million tons, natural gas-14-16 billion cubic meters (p. 13 - 14). The main section of the book is devoted to economic topics. The famous natural Bahraini pearls, on which merchant clans made substantial fortunes, in the early 30s of the XX century. it has lost the palm to oil and gas, whose reasonable and efficient operation has put the country on the path of stable economic growth. The ruling circles of the country realized in a timely manner (earlier than it did in other monarchies of Arabia) that relying solely on the "oil component" in development limits the opportunities for growth (p.45). A policy of diversification of the national economy was proclaimed. The monograph fairly fully reflects the main stages, directions and ways of implementing this policy. According to the authors, the peculiarities of the Bahraini economy - cheap electricity, serious investment opportunities, including the resources of donor countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates), and limited local skilled labor resources-dictated an energy-and capital - intensive, but labor-saving development pa ... Read more