At that time, the fear of pan-Islamic upheaval gnawed at secular governments and conservative monarchies across the region.

The leading conservative monarchy was Saudi Arabia, with Jordan (and initially, Iraq) reluctantly falling in the same but competing camp.

A9 Saudis to Hold First Elections Saudi Arabia announced that the conservative monarchy would hold its first elections, to create local councils.

Defeat in the Crimean War (1854-56) persuaded the conservative monarchy that it could not aspire to the status of a great power without bridging the gap between the state and society.

It also defends the traditional principles of a conservative monarchy based in Roman Catholic values and in the absolute power of the king, against the Enlightenment values.

The Saudis and the Yemenis have also had an interdependent relationship, but an often tense one stemming from the conservative Saudi monarchy's fear of foreign subversion.

The most conservative European monarchy, the Russian Empire, was replaced by the communist Soviet Union.

All of those steps are jarring for a rapidly developing but still very conservative Muslim monarchy that did not abolish slavery until 1962.

Among Arab officials, the Iranian missile attack was seen as a reminder that Teheran will continue to threaten the conservative monarchies of the gulf and must be dealt with firmly.

Previous Maneuvering Discreet This conservative Muslim monarchy has been willing to use its power before, most publicly in the 1973 oil embargo to protest Western support for Israel.