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Zusatztext In this excellent political history, Rivka Azoulay provides a compelling explanation of the complex political dynamics between the various constituent elements of Kuwaiti society, as well as how and why the country has survived until today. What emerges is a nuanced analysis of the relationships between the Al Sabah dynasty, the tribes, the Shia and the families of urban notables. There is no better or more up-to-date study on Kuwait's history and politics. Informationen zum Autor Rivka Azoulay is a postdoctoral fellow at Sciences Po Paris where she is working on a project to reform the social safety net system in Kuwait. Previously she was a lecturer at Leiden University and worked in advisory roles for international organizations in the Middle East and in Geneva. Vorwort A political history of Kuwait focused on tribal politics and the politics of oil Zusammenfassung The Emirate of Kuwait hardly resembles the city-State it was at the start of the 20th century. The discovery of oil in 1938 rapidly transformed the tiny tribal sheikhdom of the Al-Sabah into a modern oil-producing state where, by the early 1980s, citizens were enjoying one of the highest standards of living in the world. While much has been written on the reasons why and how the Al-Sabah became a ruling dynasty, little is known about the nature of their authority and its relationship to Kuwait’s social structure. Rivka Azoulay shows how despite the rapidity of change in the oil-rich, family-run emirate, it is the pre-oil dynamics of social and political life that dictate how society operates. The author shows that Kuwait’s ambitious diversification plans to reduce oil-dependence by 2035 require a renegotiation of the regime’s pact with society, which threatens the pre-oil alliances upon which the Al-Sabah’s regime has been built. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgments Introduction: Authoritarian regimes and the crucial role of the periphery Part I: When the past holds a mirror to the present: traditional politics and the pre-oil authority system of the Al-Sabah (1716-1938) I: Deconstructing the dominant Sunna hadar narrativeII: Communal segregation and stratification in pre-oil Kuwait: hadar, Shi’a and the early-settled tribesIII. Changes in the authority system: Mubarak Al-Sabah, colonialism and alliances with non-core elitesIV. The crystallization of alliances with non-core elites: the 1938 Majlis movement Part II. Oil and the consolidation of a tribal authoritarian shaykhdom: Ruler-ruled relations 1961-1990 I: External threat consolidates inter-elite power-sharing (musharaka)II: External threat consolidates inter-elite power-sharing (musharaka)III: The rise of new middle-class elites and the decline of the hadar elitesIV: Socio-political change within Kuwait’s Shi’a populationV. Competitive authoritarians: parliamentary life (1961-1990) Part III. New forces of globalization and the rise of the tribal periphery in Kuwait (1990-2014 )I: The birth of a tribal oppositionII. Beyond tribalism: social dimensions of a broader middle-class struggleIII. Splits in the regime’s ‘asabiyya: royal infighting and successionIV. Limits of political patronage vis-à-vis non-core elites (2011-2014) ConclusionBibliography...
