The recent popular upheavals in Tunisia and toppling of President Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali have inspired widespread protests against unemployment, price hikes and corruption in countries across the region, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and Yemen. In several North African countries, perhaps as a shared dense of despair, some protestors have gone so far as to imitate Mohammed Bouazizi, the young Tunisian fruit seller whose self-immolation on December 17, 2010.
The streets in some parts of the Middle East have, however, remained remarkably quiet. Aside from a small, peaceful protest against low wages and high costs of living in the southern Gulf state of Oman, the events in Tunisia seem to have had little impact on the populations of the oil-rich Gulf States.
In Kuwait, the government expressed respect for the decisions of Tunisians to remove their president, while stronger declarations of support came from opposition Members of the Kuwaiti Parliament (MP). Hailed as a “victory for freedom” and as signalling “that all oppressive regimes will meet the same fate”, some opposition MPs, belonging by and large to various Islamist political groups, expressed more ardent support for the events in Tunisia. Still, other MPs and members of government publicly criticized attempts to compare the Tunisian case to Kuwait, arguing that the extensive deprivations and suffering of the Tunisian people is incomparable to the high standard of living enjoyed by Kuwaitis.
Although it may in fact be inappropriate to make comparisons between the lives of Tunisians and Kuwaiti nationals, many of whom enjoy high living standards and reap the immense benefits of a cradle to grave welfare system, recent events in the oil-rich emirate belie the seemingly calm reaction to Ben Ali’s ousting. On January 17, 2011, three days after President Ben Ali fled Tunisia, the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, announced the distribution of 1,000 Kuwaiti Dinars ($3,572) in cash as well as free, monthly food rations to every Kuwaiti citizen for the next 14 months. In light of the announcement’s timing, more than a few eyebrows have been raised at the ruler’s seeming “generosity”.
While the Kuwaiti state has had its share of problems, most of these challenges have existed at the highest levels of governance, involving sectarian and tribal feuds within parliament and struggles between opposition MPs and the ruling establishment. The state has also been racked by a political crisis, which saw the prime minister nearly ousted by a narrow vote in parliament earlier this month over crackdowns by the police.
These travails, however, have remained seemingly far from the day-to-day concerns of average citizens. In fact, the Kuwaiti government epitomizes the typical Gulf state in its provision of generous public benefits and social services to its citizens. Many experts have described this arrangement as the “golden bargain” struck between the oil-rich rulers of the Gulf countries and their citizens, who have unwittingly (and sometimes willingly) ceded their political voices for relative economic prosperity. With the Kuwaiti street largely silent in the aftermath of the Tunisian uprising, many view the forthcoming cash and food distribution as the latest iteration of this golden bargain.
There is, however, an even greater distinction that must be drawn between Tunisia and Kuwait. Unlike Tunisia, the Gulf emirate is a fragmented entity, and the concept of a ‘mass public’ still underdeveloped. Political struggles run along ethnic and tribal lines. Similarly, on a social level, locals view one another in ethnic and tribal terms.[1]
Conclusion
While events in Tunisia have inspired a spate of popular protests across the region, it is safe to say that the Kuwaiti street has remained impervious. While Kuwait’s population remains stratified on social and political levels, there exists no large, hungry and unemployed mass to rally behind a common cause. For this reason, though it may be too soon to tell how the Tunisian and other regional uprisings may or may not affect the oil-rich Gulf, it is likely that Kuwait’s “golden bargain” will continue to keep any simmering frustrations from boiling over any time soon.
