Dilemmas of Democratization in Kuwait and the Gulf May 1, 2007

Prof. Michael Herb

Associate Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University

5 p.m.

AUK Auditorium

Tuesday, May 1st

Two models prevail in the Gulf today: Kuwait, with a powerful parliament and a lagging economy dependent on oil exports, and Dubai, with a flourishing non-oil economy and a virtually complete absence of political participation. The rentier state theory -Â which is the dominant theoretical framework for explaining Gulf politics - suggests that it should be exactly the opposite: democratic institutions should flourish where economies move away from dependence on oil. Yet there may well be reasons why the least diversified economy in the region has the most political participation by citizens, and why the booming economy seen today in the Emirates is accompanied by an absence of political participation. In his talk Dr. Herb examines the political economy of parliamentary institutions in the Gulf and discusses the prospects for combining representation with economic growth.

Dr. Herb is a visiting Fulbright scholar at AUK during the spring 2007 semester, conducting research and teaching a course on Arab Politics. His research is on Kuwaiti politics, specifically the relationship between the Majlis al-Umma (National Assembly) and the government, to better understand how this has changed over time, and the degree to which Kuwait is - or is not - moving in a more democratic direction. Dr. Herb received his PhD from UCLA, and is currently an associate professor at Georgia State University. He was in Kuwait as a Fulbright student in 1993-94, and later published a book that drew, in part, from his research in Kuwait titled: "All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies." Dr. Herb has also written on oil and politics, and democratization in monarchical systems of government.

For more information contact

the Gulf Studies Center

American University of Kuwait

[email protected]

224-8399, ext. 543

Official Website: http://www.auk.edu.kw/news/showNewsDetails.jsp?id=10129&ndate=1177759445322&newsType=E