Youth, Protest, and the New Elite

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical analysis of the youth-led protests that shook Kuwaiti politics in 2011 and 2012 and threatened for a time to flare out of control. Alanoud Alsharekh analyzes the multiple roots of youth dissatisfaction with the political and economic status quo in Kuwait and explores the intersection of youth-led demands for change with the broader pressure points that led Kuwait from one political crisis to another after 2006. Alsharekh documents how both the Kuwaiti government and the established political opposition failed to capitalize on the emergence of the politically-active new youth movement. The rise of youth-led groups that break the mold of established political systems has implications for all other GCC states and Iran. Alsharekh’s concluding observations on the difficulties in assimilating the region’s youthful population into existing power-sharing mechanisms – as well as labor market structures – holds great comparative significance for future stability and sustainable growth.