The State of Kuwait is a small country in the Middle East. It is located at the northern end of the Persian Gulf; to the northeast of Saudi Arabia and at the northern end of Iraq. In all, Kuwait is only slightly larger than the state of Hawaii. Generally, the land of Kuwait is mostly sandy and barren due to the desert topography. Furthermore, due to the fact that Kuwait is located in a desert climate the air is very dry and the summers are very long and hot while the winters are short and cool. There are six governorates in Kuwait; Al Ahmadi, Al ‘Asimah, Al Farwaniyah, Al Jahra’, Hawalli, and Mubarak al Kabir and the capital of Kuwait is Kuwait. The area of Kuwait stretches out 6,880 square miles and the population of Kuwait is estimated around 2.9 million people (as estimated by the United Nations in 2008). The major language of Kuwait is Arabic with the prominent religion practiced being Islam. The GNI per capita is US $31,640 (as estimated by the World Bank in 2007). The average life expectancy of a male in Kuwait is 76 years while the average life expectancy of a female in Kuwait is 80 years.
There have been traces of people located in the area of Kuwait dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. In fact, during the 18th and 19th centuries parts of Kuwait were controlled by the Ottoman Empire. The State of Kuwait as we know it today gained its independence in 1961 when Britain ended its protectorate over it. Until that point, Britain controlled the foreign relations and defense for Al-Sabah, the dynasty that ruled Kuwait. However, less than thirty years later, in 1990, Iraq, a neighboring nation to Kuwait, launched an attack against Kuwait and eventually overran it. However, a United States led UN coalition intervened on the behalf of Kuwait and after four days, completely liberated Kuwait. Today, there is still some tensions between Kuwait and Iraq, as no maritime boundary exists between the two countries in the Persian Gulf. However, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are in the process of drawing their maritime boundaries with Iran.
The political system in Kuwait is extremely complex. Kuwait is a Constitutional Emirate with a parliamentary system. In this political system the chief of state, Emir Sabah al-Ahmad has the most political authority. The Emir, what we call the chief of state is passed down genetically through the al Sabah family. The Emir has the power to appoint the prime minister and the deputy prime ministers. Therefore, each member of the executive branch of the government, which consists of the Emir, Prime Minister, First Deputy Prime Minister, two other Deputy Prime Ministers, and the Council of Ministers, is not elected to their position. They are either given the position through blood or appointed to their position by a higher authority. The legislative branch of government is Kuwait’s National Assembly. There are fifty seats in the National Assembly and the members are elected by popular vote to these positions where they serve four-year terms. Furthermore, the cabinet members in the executive branch must first be ex officio voting members of the National Assembly. In order to vote for the National Assembly representatives in Kuwait you must be 21 years of age and must have been a citizen of Kuwait for 20 years. There was a recent struggle for the women’s right for suffrage that eventually led to the right being granted on May 16, 2005. However, males that are in the military or police are not allowed to vote. The judicial branch of the Kuwait government is extremely complex. There are many different court systems on the lower level including summary courts in each administrative district. The High Court of Appeals is a major system in the Kuwaiti judiciary system. It is broken into two chambers, one involving personal status and civil cases and others involving commercial and criminal cases. The highest court in the Kuwaiti judiciary system is the Superior Constitutional Court, which is a five-member court that discusses disputes related to the constitutionality of laws, statutes and by-laws. There are also religious courts that decide family issues. There is one for Sunni and one for Shi’a; however, there is no Shi’a appellate court, so if the Shi’a want to appeal in religious court, they must do so in a Sunni appellate court. The last major feature of the Kuwaiti political system is that there are no legal political parties in existence. There are, however, some de facto political parties that exist including The Islamic Constitutional Movement, The National Democratic Alliance, The National Islamic Alliance, The Islamic Salafi Alliance, The Popular Action Bloc, and The Justice and Peace Alliance.
Kuwait is known in the economic world as a small, wealthy, open economy with a strong influence in the area of oil. They currently contain approximately 8% of the world’s oil reserves, which comes out to approximately 104 billion barrels. The Kuwaiti economy is heavily reliant on oil. It accounts for close to half of their GDP. Furthermore, it includes 95% of their export revenues and 80% of their government income. One major reason for their recent economic growth is because of the enormously high oil prices in 2008. However, the recent financial crisis may end up hindering their recent growth. The unemployment rate seems to be relatively low in Kuwait, only 2.2%. This is compared to 7.2% in the United States. Kuwait produces practically no crops that can be used as a commodity. However, fishing is used as an agriculture product. The major industries include petroleum, petrochemicals, cement, shipbuilding and repair, water desalination, food processing, and construction materials. The major trading partners of Kuwait include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, the United States, Netherlands, China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Italy.
Kuwait is currently a member of the United nations and various other related agencies including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Kuwait also played a major role in Operation Iraqi freedom by reserving 60% of its total landmass for use by coalition forces in 2002 and 2003. Kuwait still is still involved in the United States efforts in Iraq and is a major part in the reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
After Kuwait’s liberation in the Gulf War, there have been significant improvements in their defense system. Before the Gulf War their military unit was very small and consisted of an army, navy, and air force units with most of the equipment coming from the United Kingdom. However, recently Kuwait has made great strides in improving the size and developing the military technology of its armed forces.
In all, Kuwait is a much younger player on the international scene. However, in recent years the nation has taken great strides in becoming a more familiar name in international relations. However, this is difficult due to the geography of the nation, which makes almost everything difficult. With wealth increasing due to oil exports and production, Kuwait may continue to rise.
No comments:
Post a Comment