Politics in Kuwait

Like every country, Kuwait has many major political issues that must be dealt with in the country. First to discussion the political structure of Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy with the head of the government being the Emir. The Emir then appoints a Prime Minister, a council of ministers (the equivalent of the United States Cabinet) who help the Prime Minister govern. The Council of Ministers must contain at least one elected member from the Kuwaiti parliament, known as Majlis Al-Umma or National Assembly. The National Assembly can dismiss the Prime Minister or any council minister constitutionally which makes them answerable to the National Assembly. The National Assembly has fifty elected members who are picked in elections that are held every four years. There are now 5 district and people get 5 votes and the top ten vote winners get elected. There are a number of political factions in Kuwait although political parties are not allowed. The majors ones are the Islamic bloc, The Shaai (Populist) bloc, the liberal bloc and independents. The Islamic bloc is mainly Salafi and Hadas members and is the most influential bloc with its 21 members. They want the return of Shari'a law and have supported bills like the elimination of co-education at the university level. The Shaabi bloc has nine seats and focuses on lower and middle class issues. The liberal bloc has seven members and support things like women’s suffrage. There are 16 independents and they are basically pro-government types.

Government ministers also get votes in parliament. The Constitution of Kuwait, allows for nomination of a new Emir or Crown Prince by the ruling Al-Sabah family who has to be approved by the National Assembly. The royal family must submit the name of someone who the National Assembly approves of. Also, amendments to the constitution can be proposed by the Emir but need the approval of two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly before they take effect. Occasionally, there have been conflicts between the National Assembly and the Emir and the National Assembly has been dissolved. This has been done four time: from 1976 to 1981, from 1986 to 1991 and from May 1999 to July 1999 and from March 2008 to May 2008. The last two were legal with the Assembly being reelected quickly and the first two were not. The second dissolving was done because the Kuwaitis wanted to reduce the districts.

Interestingly, two-thirds of the Kuwait's population do not have citizenship and they only gave the vote to women in 2006. In 2005, only 15% of the population could which raised the amount of people who could vote to about 30% of the population. Now Kuwaiti citizens can vote though this still leaves out a large amount of the population as it can be seen.

Kuwait has good foreign relations with most of the countries around it and because of its oil wealth has a large say in OPEC. Kuwait has strong relationships with the countries that helped in when it was invaded by Iraq like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Syria, the United States and other East Asian and European state. It’s relation with states that backed Iraq like Jordan, Sudan, Yemen, and Cuba are strained or nonexistent. It’s foreign policy is focused on it’s oil and natural gas as it’s other resources are not enough to sustain it. It is also a strong supporter of the US and it’s war in Iraq. It’s relations with Iran are good with it supporting them against the West but bad with both Israel (being opposed to the attacks in Gaza) and Yemen. They have good relations with Greece but not Denmark because of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. It has strong trade relations with India and China.

In regards to human rights, the situation in Kuwait is mixed. The United States Department of State labeled Kuwait among the worst human trafficking offenders in 2007 because it has not worked to tackle this problem and the National Assembly passed a law unanimously that restricted women from working between 8pm and 7am except women in medical professions and that do not allow women to be in environments that “contravene with public morals” or put women in all-male environments. The press in Kuwait ranks 85th in freedom of the press but is the most free in the Middle East despite the self-censorship of local and foreign press on subjects that are implicitly taboo.

In Kuwait as in other countries there are some major political issues in the country. They are Education, Foreign workers, election reform, women’s rights, individual rights (gun-control and cross-dressing), Islamic Law, banking and finance, the Shia minority, Corruption and the Oil industry.

In regards to education, there is an issue of allowing the government to pay half of Kuwaiti’s tuition at private schools. There is also a proposal to have the mandatory retirement age of teachers of 65 be pushed back to 70. Also, the Kuwaiti cabinet is removing parts of Islamic history that show Islamic extremism or intolerance and over a ban on co-education in universities.

In regards to foreign workers, there are issues such are getting rid of Kuwait’s Foreign worker sponsorship system that requires expatriates to be sponsored by local workers in order to get a permit. Also, there is a law drafted to give citizenship to bidun (or stateless) people in the country as long as they do not have a criminal record. It is the equivalent of immigration reform. There are debates over raising the minimum wage in Kuwait, issues over dealing with human trafficking and a proposal to create a blacklist for employers who mistreat their domestic helpers. In regards to elections reform, there are debates over the recent reducing of districts from 25 to 5 and also a discussion about supporting the legitimacy of the political parties.

In regards to women’s rights, women’s sufferage, allowing women in the army and police force, the 8pm work curfew for women mentioned earlier. There was also a ban on women playing soccer that passed but it has been lifted in 2008.

In regards to individual rights, gun control and cross-dressing are big issues. After some attacks by Al-Qaeda, the parliament allowed the police to search and seize illegal weapons. A similar law was passed in 1992 but was not extended in 1994 as gun control was seen as an individual right. A bill outlawing dressing as the opposite sex was passed in December 2007 and criticized by the Human Rights Watch.

As far as Islamic law, a bill was presented to amend the state’s penal code to meet Islamic sharia law. The Education Minister Nouriya Al-Subaih has been critizcized for not wearing the hijab. The government has also been criticized for giving Christians plots of law to build churches on saying it is illegal under Islamic law. Also, Waleed Al-Tabtabaie was able to pressure the Islamic Affairs ministry to issue a fatwa banning "un-Islamic" concerts which include concerts with women singing to men, mixing between sexes where women revel body parts, vulgar words and dancing.

Also, Kuwait is having an economic crisis as well and has had a stock market bailout. This move have been criticized by Al-Qallaf. Also, a bill to bailout debtors has been rejected by the parliament of Kuwait. Also, a bill to guaranteed bank deposits has been passed and a general concern about Kuwaiti assets.
The are also issues involving the Shia minority like their churches being attacked, opposition to a Ramadan soap opera that criticizes Shia’s temporary marriage arrangement and a law that requires all Kuwaiti public and shareholding companies pay Zakat (alms to the poor, an Islamic tradition).

There are also issues of corruption in like the Kuwait Airways’s scandal were this company was headed by a member of the ruling family and was accused to wasting public funds. Also, several falcon shipments may have been imported for influential people without the proper testing. Falcons were banned because of concerns with the bird flu but that ban has been eased. Also FIFA has suspended Kuwait from international matches because of governmental interference with the national football program.

There is also tension between the Parliament and the Royal Family with parliament being dissolved just last March and calling for the grilling of Prime Minister Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah for letting a prominent Iranian Shiite cleric Mohammed al-Fali to enter Kuwait despite a legal ban. Many times, grilling can lead to a minister being called to resign and then being removed from office by Parliament.

Finally Oil is a big issue with Project Kuwait, a program to increase the country’s oil production with the help of foreign international companies. It has been argued this is against the Constitution.