KUWAIT HAS long prided itself on having the most liberal political system among the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. An elected parliament contains a substantial opposition that regularly criticizes the ruling al-Sabah family. Yet no one would mistake Kuwait for a democracy; the power of the assembly is strictly limited, and organized political parties are nonexistent. On Wednesday a dust-up in the parliament suggested that as the Arab Spring continues, the limited political opening offered by Kuwait and other Arab monarchies will prove insufficient.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the parliament building to protest reports of government corruption, according to news accounts. When police tried to disperse the crowd, dozens of the protesters broke into the parliament, where they sang the national anthem before departing. The demonstration prompted an emergency government cabinet meeting and an angry statement Thursday by the ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, who “ordered the interior ministry and the national guards . . . to put an end to such shameful provocative acts.”
Rather than threatening repression, the emir would be wise to listen to the opposition, which has legitimate grievances. The parliament has been blocked from investigating a major corruption scandal, including reports of multimillion-dollar deposits in the bank accounts of some parliament members and transfers by government officials to foreign accounts. Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmed al-Sabah, the 71-year-old prime minister, who is the emir’s nephew, remains in office despite being the target of multiple motions of no-confidence.
What Kuwait needs is not a crackdown, but a quicker progression toward a genuine parliamentary democracy, in which the prime minister would be chosen by a majority of the parliament. Prodded by domestic demonstrations, two other Arab monarchies, Morocco and Jordan, have begun moving in that direction. Constitutional reforms approved in Morocco last summer will oblige the king to choose a prime minister from the largest party in parliament. Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah II pledged last month to allow his next parliament to choose a prime minister, subject to his agreement. Elections are expected next year.
These partial reforms offer a way forward for Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and other Persian Gulf states — including, inevitably, Saudi Arabia. Each country will move at its own pace, but if revolution is to be avoided, the reform process must progress toward genuine democracy. In an interview with the BBC last week, King Abdullah predicted the Arab Spring was “not even halfway through.” If that is true, the way to invite the “chaos” of which Kuwait’s emir is warning would be for his regime and others to resist the imperative for change.
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