Kuwait: The First Arab Gulf Constitutionalism

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical overview of Kuwait’s constitutional system. It begins by analysing the tradition of joint consultation in Kuwait before turning to three institutions that proved central to the formation of its contemporary constitutional system: the 1921 Shura Council, the 1938 Legislative Council, and the 1962 Constituent Council (the body that drafted Kuwait’s constitution). It relies on archival sources of the Kuwait National Assembly to bring to light the internal workings of the Constituent Council and the central discussions taking place within it, including over the role of Islamic law and democracy. The chapter explores recent pressures on the system, culminating in the 2011 Arab Spring protests and the subsequent ‘four votes five districts’ ruling by Kuwait’s Constitutional Court, in 2012. It explains how Kuwait’s hybrid system incorporates elements of monarchism and parliamentarianism, and makes the case for its continued reform to meet the democratic aspirations of the people of Kuwait.