The players - resources on key people and personalities in Kuwait.
Issues and ideas - a selection of articles covering key topics.
Perspectives: from the GSN archive - articles from GSN's extensive database.
Kuwait government list and other notables
Who's who in the government and other senior positions.
Updated May 2009.
Download the PDF
Al-Sabah family tree
A family tree showing the line of succession between the Jaber and Salem braches of the family
Published August 2008.Download the PDF
PM survives key vote after agreeing to grilling
Prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah in early December agreed to answer questions in parliament over the alleged misuse of funds. He is the first premier to agree to be called to account before the National Assembly – earlier attempts resulted in the resignation of the cabinet and new elections (GSN 826/1).
Issue 868, 18 December 2009. 
more
Ahmed Al-Fahd is back and so are grillings
The former oil minister’s return is a measure of the political complications that Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed has to negotiate as opponents launch first grilling.
Issue 855, 12 June 2009. more
Kuwait’s democracy gives itself a fresh chance
Having seen voters punish the protagonists of confrontation, new MPs – women in the vanguard – could hold the key to co-operation in government. Prominent new MP Rola Dashti told GSN that Kuwaitis were seeking solutions rather than apportioning blame. Reappointed PM Sheikh Nasser Mohammed will hope she’s right.
Issue 854, 29 May 2009. more
Also see Issue 849, 13 March 2009. Kuwait’s premier pays the price of moderate Islamist defection; Issue 854, 29 May 2009. Kuwaiti political balance: ICM battered; Election of female MPs indicates change in public mood; Issue 842, 5 December 2008.Crunch time beckons for Kuwait’s comeback premier
Profile: Al-Kharafis size up Liverpool deal
With unsubstantiated rumours of a potential bid for Liverpool FC splashed across the UK newspapers, and a new deal to work with Gazprom, Kuwait’s prominent Al-Kharafi family is receiving more attention than usual.
Issue 846, 30 January 2009. more
Al-Sabah rifts at the heart of transparency battle
Rivalries within Kuwait’s ruling family have burst into the political struggle over efforts to promote transparency and finally bring justice in a KD150m ($520m) corruption case dating back to the early 1990s, in which former oil minister Sheikh Ali Al-Khalifa Al-Athbi Al-Sabah has been accused of involvement.
Issue 809, 6 July 2007. more
Emir acts to end Al-Sabah in-fighting, calm Constitution talk
Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has acted swiftly to end growing media speculation and rumours of plans to amend the Constitution and dissolve the National Assembly.
Issue 804, 27 April 2007. more
Sabah’s big gamble: new Emir faces the new shape of politics
Capable and efficient, but possibly over-reliant on traditional manoeuvres to maintain his hold on the political arena, Kuwait’s new Emir may have failed to read the mood of a country where exasperation at corruption has become widespread and campaigning is being reinvigorated by a more politicised youth.
Issue 782, 26 May 2006.more
TOP
Political wrangling hampers domestic energy policy
Engaging international oil companies in projects at home is essential to meet long-term demand, but MPs’ failure to agree on the way forward means Kuwait is having more success abroad
Issue 861, 25 September 2009. more
Chevron closes head office
US major Chevron Corporation has closed its head office in Kuwait after failed negotiations for enhanced technical services agreements (TSAs) – indicating that the recent government reshuffle may have done little to change political opposition to foreign involvement in the hydrocarbons industry.
Issue 859, 7 August 2009 more
Also see Issue 852, 1 May 2009. Major IOCs downsize
PM survives key vote after agreeing to grilling
Prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah in early December agreed to answer questions in parliament over the alleged misuse of funds. He is the first premier to agree to be called to account before the National Assembly – earlier attempts resulted in the resignation of the cabinet and new elections (GSN 826/1).
Issue 868, 18 December 2009. more
Also see Issue 865, 20 November 2009. Al-Muslim finds a wider audience for attacks on PM; Issue 863, 23 October 2009. Confrontation threatens Kuwait reform hopes; Issue 855, 12 June 2009. Ahmed Al-Fahd is back and so are grillings; Issue 854, 29 May 2009. Kuwait’s democracy gives itself a fresh chance; Kuwaiti political balance: ICM battered; Election of female MPs indicates change in public mood
Kuwait arrests reflect a long history of militancy
The emirate represents the second most threatened in the GCC after Saudi Arabia, and Kuwaitis are significantly represented among Al-Qaeda’s leadership
Issue 860, 11 September 2009. more
Kuwaiti border made more secure as the state returns to southern Iraq
Plenty of security concerns persist in the northern Gulf, some obvious, others less so – for example, Kuwait is increasingly concerned about the security of its porous Saudi border (GSN 834/6). But there are reasons to be cheerful too, notably on the Iraqi front, where criminality and political manoeuvring remain big actual and potential problems across borders in the region, but where new Iraqi security forces are starting to have an impact on the organised crime culture that has flourished in post-Saddam Iraq.
Issue 846, 30 January 2009. more
Also see Issue 846, 30 January 2009. Iraq’s Kuwait border gets a little less wild
Kuwait’s constitution boosts status of women
For the second time in a month, Kuwait’s constitutional court has ruled in favour of women’s rights. It has decided that women who do not wear the hijab retain their full political rights to vote and to sit as members of parliament. The court’s judgement, which cannot be appealed, is a serious rebuff to ideological Islamists seeking to undermine the breakthrough made by the dynamic feminist movement with the election of four women to the National Assembly in May.
Issue 864, November 2009. more
Kuwait’s women MPs demand more
Voting, parliamentary seats and ministerial posts are only the start for Aseel Al-Awadhi. She wants women in Kuwait to be full citizens in more than politics. Despite recent reforms – discussed in Politics below – there is still a huge distance to make up in terms of women’s social and legal status, says the MP, who does not wear a hijab, inside parliament or elsewhere.
Issue 864, November 2009. more
TOP
| Perspectives: from the GSN archive |
Oil minister threatened with grilling, parliament approves KSE regulatory body
Risk management report
Issue 870, 29 January 2010. more
Premier survives no-confidence vote, KIA sells Citi stake to invest at home
Risk management report
Issue 869, 15 January 2009. more
PM survives key vote after agreeing to grilling
Prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah in early December agreed to answer questions in parliament over the alleged misuse of funds. He is the first premier to agree to be called to account before the National Assembly – earlier attempts resulted in the resignation of the cabinet and new elections (GSN 826/1).
Issue 868, 18 December 2009. more
Al-Muslim finds a wider audience for attacks on PM
While analysts say the current National Assembly is more serious about policy issues than its predecessor, significant voices have continued a more personalised campaign against prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his government (GSN 863/1).
Issue 865, 20 November 2009. more
Kuwait’s constitution boosts status of women
For the second time in a month, Kuwait’s constitutional court has ruled in favour of women’s rights. It has decided that women who do not wear the hijab retain their full political rights to vote and to sit as members of parliament. The court’s judgement, which cannot be appealed, is a serious rebuff to ideological Islamists seeking to undermine the breakthrough made by the dynamic feminist movement with the election of four women to the National Assembly in May.
Issue 864, November 2009. more
Kuwait’s women MPs demand more
Voting, parliamentary seats and ministerial posts are only the start for Aseel Al-Awadhi. She wants women in Kuwait to be full citizens in more than politics. Despite recent reforms – discussed in Politics below – there is still a huge distance to make up in terms of women’s social and legal status, says the MP, who does not wear a hijab, inside parliament or elsewhere.
Issue 864, November 2009. more
Death of a Kuwaiti political player: Talal Mubarak Al-Ayyar – 5 March 1959-23 October 2009
The death of Talal Al-Ayyar at the age of 50 marks a theatrical crescendo to the tumult and controversy of Kuwaiti public life, in which the former statesman had been an active player
Issue 864, November 2009. more
Confrontation threatens Kuwait reform hopes
Despite the slow but steady progress now being made on policy issues, the prospect of an old-style ministerial grilling threatens Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed and may lead to the dissolution of parliament
Issue 863, 23 October 2009. more
Risk Management Report
New government to push on with constitutional reform and civil liberties
Issue 863, 23 October 2009. more
Political wrangling hampers domestic energy policy
Engaging international oil companies in projects at home is essential to meet long-term demand, but MPs’ failure to agree on the way forward means Kuwait is having more success abroad
Issue 861, 25 September 2009. more
$2.7bn contract signed to build Subbiya plant
Kuwait’s Electricity and Water Resources Minister, Badr Al-Shuraian, has signed a $2.7bn contract with the US’ General Electric Company (GEC) and South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Group to build and operate a 2,000MW power plant in the north of the country.
Issue 861, 25 September 2009. more
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