In the Daily Star, Mona Kareem describes the growing political paralysis in Kuwait, largely resulting from the conflict between the executive and legislative branches and opposition to current Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah. Since the political conflict stems from a power struggle within the ruling family, replacing the prime minister may appear to be a simple solution, but it is not a lasting one. Kareem concludes, "one way out of this dilemma ...

The New York Times describes the "tensions beneath the surface calm of U.A.E. political life," including the opening of a trial earlier this month of five activists. And The Economist writes about how the Arab Spring is making U.A.E. "nervous," citing the growing campaign against even mild dissent. While calls for reform were met with the official announcement of plans to expand the right to vote to all U.A.E. citizens,  the government shows no ...

Kuwaiti emir Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah warned against chaos in the emirate as parliament remained in turmoil. The warning came after 10 oppositoin MP's filed a "non-cooperation" motion on Tuesday in a bid to oust Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a nephew of the emir, over ties with Iran. The emir also urged opposition protesters to "safeguard the true Kuwaiti spirit," but noted that he had instructed the interior minister to ...

Thousands protested in Kuwait for the third straight Friday night calling for the emir to remove Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, and end the feud with his deputy Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah, the latest episode in an ongoing feud of Kuwait's dominant political family. Even while held at night, the protesters brave temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius. Sultan Al Qassemi writes that in Kuwait and other Gulf countries, social ...

    In an interview with CNN, Sheikh Fahad Al Salem, a member of Kuwaiti royal family, stated that he has been calling on Arab leaders to listen to its people for years.  "If we don't start the change in a peaceful way in this very fast moment now, we will have chaos," he said. Al Salem has also called for reform in Kuwait stating that "if the way of dealing does not ...

Kuwait's cabinet submitted its resignation on Thursday in order to avoid a questioning session from parliament members.  Members of the parliament had asked to question three ministers, all of whom are members of the ruling al-Sabah family.  In Kuwaiti politics, parliamentary questioning of ministers has triggered several cabinet reshuffles and is seen as a direct challenge to the individual minister and the ruling Emir Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah. Cabinet Member Roudhan ...

Dawn McCall, State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator, concluded a trip to the Middle East during which she met with media and telecommunications industry executives and journalists as well as senior Embassy officials to discuss media trends and audience usage patterns in today's changing media environment.  McCall  traveled to the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa has denied reports that the country had agreed to let Kuwait mediate an agreement with protesters and the opposition.  On Sunday, news reports indicated that Kuwait had offered to mediate the crisis and that Bahrain's main Shia opposition party, al-Wefaq , had agreed.

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Protesters outside of Kuwait's Parliament handed watermelons to lawmakers as they entered the building as a symbol of their discontent with the prime minister and the actions of parliament. The watermelon is a symbol of a person that "has a lack of understanding or holds an unrealistic point of view" in Kuwait according to Reuters. This was the first action that took place amidst plans for greater youth protests throughout ...

F. Gregory Gause III, writing in Foreign Policy, discusses the difficulties of the reform process in the Gulf countries given the large number of ruling family members in important government posts.  Prior to the uprisings in Bahrain, the prime minister, three out of the four deputy prime ministers, and 10 out of the 23 cabinet ministers were from the al-Khalifa family.  Similar proportions of ruling family members can be found in the ...

Kuwaiti youth groups Kafi (Enough) and al-Soor al-Khames (Fifth Fence) are organizing protests to coincide as the Kuwait Parliament convenes on Tuesday.  Organizers say they want the current Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah to be replaced with someone outside the ruling al-Sabah family.  The Prime Minister is the nephew of the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. Opposition blocs within the parliament, including the Democratic Forum and the Ummah Party have also called for the ...

Writing at Foreign Policy, Mohammed Ayoob states that while Libya is important, we should not forget about Bahrain where regime change may, in the long run, be an even more momentous event.  Bahrain is  not only located in a region with around 60 percent of the world's proven oil reserves and 40 percent of it's natural gas reserves, it is also a member of the regional security organization, the Gulf ...

In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Shadi Hamid argues that Islamist parties across the Arab world have a tendency to "lose elections on purpose."  He examines the behavior of Islamist opposition parties in six Arab countries and concludes that the roots of Islamist parties in broader social movements compel them to prioritize self-preservation over political contestation.  However, “as Islamists have grown comfortable losing elections—and with much of ...

On Wednesday, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Ahmed al-Sabah, narrowly survived the no-confidence vote. Twenty-five MPs voted in support of al-Sabah while 22 voted against, with one abstention. Opposition politicians have vowed to continue efforts to unseat the premier, with Islamist MP Jamaan al-Harbash saying the "crisis will only end when this government reaches its end." Elliott Abrams praised the vote as a strong signal for democracy in the region: “It’s a laudable ...

In response to recent political unrest in Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Egypt, Marc Lynch argues that these events signal  “the accelerating decay of the institutional foundations and fraying of the social fabric across many of the so-called 'moderate', pro-Western Arab regimes.”  He asserts that these events represent the rising tensions that are building within these countries due to “authoritarian retrenchment, unfulfilled economic promises, rising sectarianism at the popular level, and ...

Kuwait’s parliament filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al Sabah on Tuesday. Opposition parliamentarians announced the move after questioning Al Sabah for eight hours about the recent crackdowns on opposition politicians and activists. The vote will take place on January 5. Habib Toumi writes that the motion may force Emir Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to reshuffle his cabinet or dissolve parliament.

Bloomberg’s Fiona MacDonald and Dahlia Kholaif report on growing tension between Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah and the Parliament. MPs recently summoned the Prime Minister to answer questions about the recent police crackdown on activists and opposition politicians. Al-Sabah, the nephew of Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, has clashed with the Parliament before. In December 2009, he survived a no confidence vote and he has dissolved the Parliament twice. According to MacDonald and Kholaif, the recent ...

Kuwaiti opposition parliamentarians protested the ongoing detention of legal scholar Obaid al-Wasmi outside the Kuwaiti parliament Tuesday. Independent MP Mubarak al-Waalan told AFP “We condemn the government measures against Wasmi and the brutal police beating,” while opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak accused members of the ruling Al-Sabah family of directly ordering the attack. Al-Wasmi was beaten and arrested December 8 (video here) following an opposition meeting in Kuwait City.