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Kuwait has been ruled by the Al-Sabah dynasty since the 18th
century. The threat of Ottoman invasion in 1899 prompted Emir
Mubarak Al-Sabah to seek protection from Britain, ceding foreign
and defence responsibility to Britain until 1961, when the
country attained its independence. Kuwait was attacked and
overrun by Iraq in August 1990. Following several weeks of
aerial bombardment, a US-led UN coalition began a ground assault
in February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. In 1992,
the Emir reconstituted the parliament that he had dissolved
in 1986. Amid the 2010–11 uprisings and protests across
the Arab world, stateless Arabs, known as Bidoon, staged small
protests in early 2011 demanding citizenship, jobs, and other
benefits available to Kuwaiti nationals. Other demographic
groups, notably Islamists and Kuwaitis from tribal backgrounds,
soon joined the growing protest movements, which culminated
in late 2011 with the resignation of the prime minister amidst
allegations of corruption. Demonstrations renewed in late
2012 in response to an amiri decree amending the electoral
law that lessened the voting power of the tribal blocs.
An opposition coalition of Sunni Islamists, tribal populists,
and some liberals, largely boycotted legislative elections
in 2012 and 2013, which ushered in a legislature more amenable
to the government's agenda. Faced with the prospect of painful
subsidy cuts, oppositionists and independents actively participated
in the November 2016 election, winning nearly half of the
seats, but a cohesive opposition alliance largely ceased to
exist with the 2016 election and the opposition became increasingly
factionalized. Between 2006 and his death in 2020, the previous
Kuwaiti Emir dissolved the National Assembly on seven occasions
(the Constitutional Court annulled the Assembly elections
in June 2012 and again in June 2013) and shuffled the cabinet
over a dozen times, usually citing political stagnation and
gridlock between the legislature and the government.
In September 2021, the Emir launched a 'National Dialogue'
meant to resolve political gridlock. Through this, the Emir
pardoned several opposition figures who had been living in
exile, and they returned to Kuwait. Legislative challenges
remain, and the cabinet has been reshuffled six times since
late 2020.
Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iraq and
Saudi Arabia.
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