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Kuwait

In the summer of 1990, tiny, oil-rich Kuwait became the center of global attention when it was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Months later, a US-led coalition expelled Iraqi troops, restoring the Kuwaiti monarchy.

Since that time, Kuwait’s ruling Sabah family has incrementally moved the country in the direction of constitutional monarchy, though ultimate power remains firmly in their hands. The Kuwaiti parliament is the most autonomous in the Arab Gulf states. Although political parties are not permitted, the National Assembly is split into blocs representing Sunni Islamists, Shiite Islamists, regime loyalists and a small number of liberals. For years, parliamentary Islamists helped to block attempts to extend suffrage to women, a reform that was finally achieved in 2005. In early 2006, upon the death of the emir, the speaker of Parliament intervened to forestall a brewing succession crisis.

Due to diminishing reserves and aging technology, the newly crowned emir plans to allow international oil companies to invest in the country’s hydrocarbon sector, which, like those of its neighbors in the Gulf, has long been wholly nationalized. Assuming that domestic opposition does not stop Project Kuwait, as the emir’s initiative is called, it would be a precedent for the partial reversal of the wave of nationalizations in the 1970s.

As it still harbors 10 percent of the world’s reserves, Kuwait remains a key oil producer, and a rise in oil prices coincident with the current Iraq war has led to the sort of budget surpluses not seen since before 1990, as well as a construction boom.

Like other Arab Gulf states, Kuwait relies upon an army of guest workers, mostly imported from South Asia, to build its desert cities. These non-citizen laborers, whose basic rights are poorly protected at best, make up over half of the current population.


Facts and Figures »