FOLLOWING his unanimous election as emir by Kuwait’s Parliament, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah has now been formally invested. It puts an end to all the uncertainty following the death of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah on Jan. 15 and the succession crisis. It ensures stability, not merely in the sense that the crisis is over but because the new emir guarantees continuity. There will be no abrupt changes in government policy for the simple reason that Sabah has been Kuwait’s effective ruler for the past three years as prime minister. Before that he served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister. He has simply changed office and title.
That means a safe and reliable pair of hands for Kuwait at a time of continuing regional uncertainty. Iraq’s enduring instability and concerns over Iran’s nuclear intentions and the international response to it are ever-present political issues for Kuwaitis, the former in particular given their country’s position as a major entrepot center for the reconstruction of Iraq.
The 14-day leadership crisis apart, there are in fact striking similarities with the succession in Saudi Arabia last year and the accession of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah following the death of King Fahd. It also ensured continuity because the new king, like the new emir of Kuwait, had long been the country’s de facto ruler.
The other similarity is the two rulers’ commitment to reform. In the case of Kuwait, it was Sabah who, in one of his first policy moves after taking over as prime minister three years ago, decided to give women the right to vote and stand for election. Following Parliament’s approval, he then appointed Kuwait’s first woman minister, Massouma Al-Mubarak, who took over the planning portfolio. That process of reform will see further movement next year when women will take part in Kuwait’s parliamentary elections and, almost certainly, get elected. That probably means one or two more Kuwaiti women ministers. The consequences of government both in Kuwait and here now united in one person — a ruler firmly committed to reform — will have wider consequences. It will give reform within the GCC a boost. There are other new, modernizing leaders in the Gulf, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in Bahrain, and they too want to make the GCC a more effective and active body, particularly in shaping economic growth.
For the moment, then, Kuwait’s constitutional issues are settled and the state will get on with everyday political life — certainly until next year’s elections. But in the way they have been settled, by Parliament deciding who should be emir, is likely to be seen in future as a political watershed. Sovereignty has passed to the Kuwaiti Parliament, rather in the same way in the 17th century sovereignty in Britain passed to Parliament when it offered the throne to a new ruler. Although it took almost a century to become apparent, it was the start of Britain’s constitutional monarchy. This does the same for Kuwait, although it will probably not take as long to become obvious.
