Oil, Coalitions, and Regime Durability: the Origins and Persistence of Popular Rentierism in Kuwait

Abstract

While the canonical literature on oil wealth suggests that hydrocarbon windfalls encourage repressive despotism, Kuwait provides a case of an oil-rich autocracy governing instead through popular rentierism-that is, through a broad coalition of social forces, one that furnishes enduring loyalty from below while constraining abuses of state power from above. This paper provides a theoretically guided explanation for this exceptional outcome. I argue that the Kuwaiti regime's coalitional bargains originated in the pre-oil era, when domestic opposition and geopolitical constrictions compelled it to forge new social alliances at the dawn of modern statehood. This inclusionary strategy mediated the subsequent effect of oil rents, which the regime used to institutionalize its mass base with costly material and symbolic side payments. Such popular incorporation bound large constituent classes to the regime's survival, precluding the need for widespread repression. After 50 years, these coalitional bargains have also proven remarkably resilient, as social actors have continued to endorse the autocratic leadership despite economic crisis and wartime defeat.

Tourism development in Kuwait: examining the political-economic challenges in a unique rentier economy

“…The relationship between tourism and rentierism has just recently been explored, and none of which have explored the unique relationship between 'popular rentierism' (Yom, 2011) and tourism as is the case in Kuwait. Mansfeld and Winckler (2007;2008) have examined the overall challenges of tourism development as a long-term economic alternative to oil-based rentier economies in the GCC using the example of Dubai (2007) and Bahrain (2008).…”

“…While other rentier states in the region have been able to successfully adopt economic diversification strategies, the unique form of 'popular' rentierism (Yom, 2011) has created challenging conditions for economic development and diversification. Kuwait's popular rentier system combines characteristics of other Gulf rentier states with the uniquely participatory political system that is responsive to internal social forces and the influence and vulnerability of external relations (Gray, 2011).…”

Citizenship, Super-inclusion and Consumer Credit Policy in Kuwait

“…To understand how this process, which is unique to Kuwait, has arisen, it is necessary to understand the historical relationship between the royal family, the country's merchant elite and Kuwaiti foreign policy. Kuwait is a small country, which is located some distance north of the main hub of the Gulf, and its isolation led the ruling family to court Western countries in the hope of securing economic aid, military assistance and other goods and services to consolidate their domestic power (Yom, 2011). Rulers needed to be perceived as actively pursuing a strategy of national stability which led them to engage with contentious groups rather than crush them, possibly using violent force, which would have been unacceptable by influential Western governments.…”

Resource Governance and Developmental States in the Global South

“…Firstly, minerals, specifically oil, have been associated with instability, secrecy and unaccountable governments (Humphreys et al, 2007;Ross, 2001Ross, , 2006Ross, , 2012. This argument resonated strongly in the 1990s to explain the relative durability of authoritarian governments in the Middle East, although the extent to which it is fully applicable across the region -and much less in the developing world -has been challenged recently (Herb, 2005;Hertog, 2010a;Peters & Moore, 2009;Yom, 2011). The second argument is more time-specific and takes the view that the wave of neoliberal reforms in the developing world in the 1980s and 1990s reduced developmental space for poorer, resource-rich countries and increased already democratic deficits as a result of state-managed neoliberalism.…”

“…This argument is increasingly explored as scholars begin to distinguish different modes of political bargaining in the Middle East. In Kuwait, for example, Sean Yom (2011) argues that an inclusionary strategy of building political ties with the masses precluding repressive actions enabled the state to incorporate highly mobilised classes during the pre-oil era. Even among oil-rich monarchs resisting democratisation, the breadth of efforts and political manoeuvring cannot be attributed to the simple distribution of rent-fuelled side payments but rather to the relative adaptability of elites to graft institutions responsive to economic and political pressures (Herb, 2005;Hertog, 2010aHertog, , 2010bPeters & Moore, 2009).…”