The Narrative of Resistance by Anne Hagood The protests in Bahrain reflect demands for long overdue changes in a country where social and class divisions have often been formulated in sectarian terms. While in relatively homogeneous countries such as Tunisia and Egypt, protest movements have overthrown longstanding leaders and taken important steps towards political freedom, Bahrain has proven a challenging environment for change, although political unrest is nothing new there. Bahraini Shi'a, who represent 70 percent of the population and are ruled by a minority Sunni elite close to Saudi Arabia and the United States, have been in the vanguard of protest movements in the 1980s, the 1990s and again today. The Bahraini government has historically been unable or unwilling to follow through on promises of reform, exacerbating tensions and resentment in a way that resonates with other groups in the region. Attempts at political reform in 2002, when the government converted Bahrain from an emirate to what it called a constitutional monarchy, have so far failed to yield meaningful changes. The reasons for the discrimination against the Shi'a in Bahrain are numerous and go beyond the scope of this paper. However, the discrimination certainly reflects the Bahraini government's perceptions of an existential threat from Iran and its use of identity politics to promote the notion that some Bahraini Shi'a are in fact agents of destabilization. Tensions between the sects were greatly exacerbated after the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, which heightened the anxieties of Sunni Bahrainis. Iran has a longstanding territorial claim to Bahrain, the smallest of the Gulf states, dating back to Safavid rule, which began in the 16th century. Later Iranian governments did not press the claim but the religious leaders of the Iranian revolution revived it on the grounds that the majority of the population was Shi'a. The Iranian parliament went as far as leaving two nominal seats empty for Bahraini representatives. Bahrain certainly lies on the front lines in the struggle for regional influence between Tehran and Saudi Arabia, the leading Sunni power in the region and Iran's great political rival. Saudi-Iranian relations help define broader Arab-Iranian ties and are pivotal to the security of the Gulf.