Regional think tanks and research institutions engaged in current affairs studies are coming under closer scrutiny from Arab governments that are uneasy about the range of topics the think tanks can debate that the regulated local media cannot.

Some of the most authoritative think tanks focused on the Middle East are based in Britain but the few that sprouted over the past few years in the Persian Gulf region are finding their debate remits under scrutiny from the authorities.

Qatar, home to a largely self-regulated media and academic community and headquarters of al-Jazeera television, is so far the least restrictive in its treatment of academic and media debate but analysts question whether that can continue.

Qatar took active part in the U.N. and Arab League-backed military campaign in support of the rebels in Libya while the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia aided Bahrain in its campaign to quell protesters in the kingdom of Bahrain.

Both actions raised sensitivities and became topics for discussion in the regional think tanks, some of whom have academic or think tank affiliates in the United States, Britain and France.

Not everyone is happy about issues that think tank pundits can spout but media commentators can't. In the meantime, increased participation of foreign participants in the think tanks' activities accentuated those sensitivities.

Most exposed to a combination of funding cuts and government intervention are the research and debate centers in the United Arab Emirates.

The Gulf Research Center, originally a think tank in Dubai, is increasingly active in England with alternative offices in Cambridge, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.

GRC was founded in July 2000 by Saudi businessman Abdulaziz Sager, who set out to "pursue politically neutral and academically sound research about Gulf Cooperation Council countries and disseminate the knowledge obtained as widely as possible.

"The GRC seeks to provide a better understanding of the challenges and prospects of the GCC countries," the GRC says on its Web site.

The center couldn't get its 10-year license renewed in 2010, the Financial Times reported. In October, GRC was told verbally that no license would be forthcoming "due to objections by the Dubai government to various aspects of the GRC's work."

While GRC's problems apparently started before the Arab Spring, Sager said recent regional events "did not improve our situation," the Financial Times reported.

The Dubai School of Government also faced problems leading to resignations of its Libyan director, Tarik Yousef, and some of his colleagues, the newspaper said. The school went into partnership with Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government to form the Dubai Initiative, which was designed to underpin its academic credentials.

Western academic institutions and think tanks that entered into partnerships in Bahrain are waiting to see the outcome of the current standoff over opposition demands.

So far the most robust of academic output from Middle Eastern think tanks has come from well-funded institutions away from the prying eyes of Persian Gulf governments. These include the Kuwait-funded Research Program on Development, Governance and Globalization in the Gulf States at the London School of Economics and several think tanks and research outlets at the University of London.

These are seen by the Middle Eastern communities in London as welcome oases amid the advancing desert of dwindling informed debate in their native lands about developments in the Middle East.

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