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The resilience of parliamentary politics in Kuwait : rentierism, ideology, and mobilization
\"This book is the first English language political history of Kuwaiti parliament. It also provides the first holistic treatment of grassroots contemporary Kuwaiti politics in English in over two decades, incorporating the country's political dynamics into broader debates about the limits of authoritarianism and the practice of democracy in the Arab world, particularly in oil-wealthy states. This book uses the lens of parliamentary elections as a means of understanding the political ideologies that have dominated in Kuwait since independence. As such, it situates the dynamics of Kuwaiti politics within broader political science debates about whether democratic institutions in \"hybrid regimes\" are meaningful arenas for popular contestation or only serve to enhance autocratic rule. Given the varying portrayals of Kuwait as robust authoritarianism, \"upgraded\" authoritarianism, or a noteworthy site of democratic participation, this book focuses on the ideologies that have mobilized political blocs, rather than solely focusing on the institutions of political power themselves. The book also assesses and examines the institutional setting that Kuwait presents and traces the dominant ideological strands in the country, as well as consider the comparative mobilizational potential of ascriptive identities like tribe and sect. The book includes extensive fieldwork and the use of Arabic and English primary sources\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Consequences of Some Angry Re-Tweets
Most research on the Gulf states focuses on oil and its impact on state power. The literature on rentier theory almost unanimously agrees that oil rents buy off citizens and lead to socio-political stagnation. Massive protests and government attempts to address citizen demands in Kuwait between 2011 and 2013 call into question that narrative. Since those protests, the Kuwaiti government has taken steps to increase its representation of public officials and accessibility in the public sphere, including by expanding the government’s presence on Instagram. How have Kuwaiti citizens voiced their opinions to government accounts? And how has the government responded to online criticism?
This essay looks at the pattern of interactions between the state and Kuwaiti citizens on Twitter and Instagram using a content analysis of government accounts. The findings raise questions about the validity of the payoff thesis and understandings of consent and acquiescence. My analysis illustrates that there is a public dialogue that moves beyond the rigid structure of state and society by which the literature has traditionally understood Gulf rentier societies.
Journal Article