Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The Resilience of Parliamentary Politics in Kuwait: Rentierism, Ideology, and Mobilization is the first English language political history of the Kuwaiti parliament. It also provides the first holistic treatment of grassroots contemporary Kuwaiti politics in English in over two decades, incorporating the country’s political dynamics into broader debates about the limits of authoritarianism and the practice of democracy in the Arab world, particularly in oil-wealthy states. This book uses the lens of parliamentary elections as a means of understanding the political ideologies that have influenced Kuwaiti politics and mobilization since independence. As such, it situates the dynamics of Kuwaiti politics within broader political science debates about whether democratic institutions in “hybrid regimes” are meaningful arenas for popular contestation or serve only to enhance autocratic rule. Given the varying portrayals of Kuwait as robust authoritarianism, “upgraded” authoritarianism, or a noteworthy site of democratic participation, this book focuses on the ideologies that have mobilized political blocs, rather than solely on the institutions of political power themselves. The book also assesses and examines the institutional setting that Kuwait presents and traces the dominant ideological strands in the country, as well as considering the comparative mobilizational potential of ascriptive identities like tribe and sect. The book includes extensive fieldwork and the use of Arabic and English primary sources.</jats:p>