Institutional Design, Cabinet Stability and Parliamentary Dissolution: Kuwait's National Assembly

Kuwait’s political system has become notorious for its terminal impasse. This has had serious consequence on the economic development of Kuwait despite its massive per capita oil wealth. In turn, it has also cast doubt over the value of democracy in Kuwait, and the attractiveness of its relatively more open political model compared to its mostly authoritarian neighbors. In this paper I examine executive-legislative relations in Kuwait’s unique political system (democratically elected parliament combined with a hereditary monarchy). I aim to unravel the roots of Kuwait’s terminal political deadlock, by examining the connection between poor institutional design, cabinet stability and parliamentary dissolution. The paper sheds light on how tools of legislative oversight, though important, can develop into tools of obstruction in hybrid regimes.