Result of 250 Year Rulership of One Family
Kuwait is the only Arab state of the Persian Gulf where so-called democracy and political and media freedoms exist. Since 1962, this country has had a constitution and enjoys an elected parliament and free press. At the same time, it cannot be called a democratic country, for there is no change of power among the leaders and the Sabah family has inherited governance over this country for more than 250 years. The position of Prime Minister is exclusively in the hands of the al-Sabah family and several key ministries, including the Interior Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Oil Ministry, and Intelligence Ministry have always been administered by one of the members of the ruling al-Sabah family. The ministers are chosen by the Prime Minister's proposal and the approval of the Emir of Kuwait, and the parliament plays no role in rendering a vote of confidence to the ministers and it can only impeach the ministers or the Prime Minister. After taking oath, the ministers participate in the parliament while enjoying the right to vote and play a relative role in most of the laws of the parliament. During the last decade, there has always been serious tension between the government and the parliament. During the past six years, the parliament has been dissolved five times by the Emir, the last of which was on the 7th of October, and the government has also been changed seven times during the same period. A few months ago, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait resigned from his post, and was substituted by the Defense Minister, Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah. During the last year, the capital of Kuwait has witnessed demonstrations and protests led by several representatives of the parliament. Two major factors can be pointed out as the roots of the unrests in Kuwait:
A- Domestic Factors
1. Internal differences among the ruling family and not believing in democracy has caused each faction to support a specific candidate, thus, the parliament has become the scene of domestic differences between members of the ruling family and therefore a group of parliament representatives attempt to defeat Kuwait’s parliamentary experience.
2. The power struggle between different political fronts in Kuwait which try to use democracy as a tool to reach power. The use of financial possibilities of businessmen and wealthy sheikhs to buy people's votes and deal with the heads of tribes to support certain candidates of the parliament and gaining sensitive governmental posts has caused the representatives of the parliament to prefer their personal and tribal interests over the national interests of the country, hence, the administrative system is crippled with corruption, bribery, and mismanagement. Therefore, despite some political freedoms in this country, Kuwait is ranked 122nd on the list of countries which have democracy.
B- Foreign Factors
Saudi Arabia's dissatisfaction over the parliamentarian experience and political freedoms in Kuwait is known to everybody. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction over Kuwait’s parliamentarian methods in his private meetings with Kuwaiti officials, and the government of Saudi Arabia has always tried to create problems for the government of Kuwait by provoking parliament representatives, political movements which are affiliated to Saudi Arabia, and the heads of Kuwaiti tribes. Saudi pressure to remove Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait, who had close relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and established logical and wise relations with the Shiites of his country, and repeated impeachments of ministers and the Prime Minister by Salafi representatives affiliated with Saudi Arabia are clear examples of this policy. By using its influence in some Kuwaiti tribes, the government of Saudi Arabia has always intervened in Kuwait’s parliament elections. It should be pointed out that 200,000 of Kuwait’s 1,200,000 population have dual citizenship, the majority of whom have Saudi citizenship, thus, at the time of parliamentary elections, a large number of them enter Kuwait from Saudi borders and vote for certain candidates. The unrests of the past few months in Kuwait, which were enflamed by Salafi and radical Kuwaiti representatives, were certainly the results of the covert intervention of Saudi Arabia in this country. Despite repeated warnings by the Emir of Kuwait to the protesters, they have continued their protests while enjoying foreign support. Those groups which do not believe in parliamentarian democracy use the slogan of democracy to gain power and influence in government institutions. Beside the Salafi groups, some other Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood of Kuwait, which are active under the name of the Constitution Movement, and some liberal and secular groups are also effective in these unrests. Their slogan is struggle against corruption and government inefficiencies in administering the country, a rightful statement with special political goals. The interesting point is that the representatives who oppose the government and the political opposition express their loyalty to the inherited system and the al-Sabah rulership, but demand more roles in running the country. Among their basic political demands are the election of the Prime Minister and the ministers by the parliament and among people who are not members of the al-Sabah family. Some movements explicitly demand change in the constitution in a manner where the monarchial constitutional system in the country is guaranteed but the role of the Emir of Kuwait in running the country is limited. The Islamist movements ask for a change in Article 2 of the constitution so that it states that the Islamic Sharia would be the only source of legislation in the country. Of course, what they mean by Islamic Sharia is the Salafi version of Islam which has a backward interpretation of the tradition of the Salaf us-Salih.
Among their other demands is a change in the situation of election zones. At the present time, Kuwait is divided into 5 election zones and 10 representatives are elected from each one of them. Some former parliament representatives demand a change in election zones so that the Kuwaiti tribes would be able to play a greater role in power. But the Constitutional Tribunal expressed its disagreement with regard to this demand, and ultimately, the Emir of Kuwait, in the absence of the parliament, ratified a plan based on which each Kuwaiti citizen can only vote for one representative, thus, the role of the tribes would be reduced and deals between them and the people in power will be prevented. The interesting point is that in all of these events, all of the Kuwaiti Shiites, particularly the Shiite representatives of parliament, disagree with any unrest in the country and consider change in the constitution and the political structure of the system against national interests and demand sustenance of the present situation in which the Shiites benefit more.
Prospect of Kuwait's Political Future:
Kuwait can undoubtedly not stay away from the wave of developments in the Middle East and despite the fact that most Kuwaiti citizens have a relatively comfortable life and wealth because of oil revenues, the country's young generation demand to play a greater role in governing the country and are somewhat supported by some members of the ruling family. This concern exists among the majority of rulers in Persian Gulf Arab states, as we have also observed unrest in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain during the past year. In the run-up to Kuwait's parliamentary elections, more than 300 former members of parliament have refused to register and they intend to boycott the elections. Therefore, it seems that if protests and marches continue and security measures are intensified, the ruling al-Sabah family will have no choice but to give some concessions to the protesters so as to prevent a political crisis in the country, because this small, oil-rich country of the Persian Gulf cannot tolerate a long-term domestic political crisis.