Social class and political participation in the GCC: the case of Kuwait

This article expands academic understanding of how socioeconomic class influenced parliamentary participation in Kuwait, one of the wealthiest rentier states in the world. To do so, it discusses the political salience of socioeconomic class in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) before considering Kuwaiti exceptionalism when it comes to the role of its socioeconomic elite in political life. Drawing on materials in Arabic and English and on interviews with Kuwaiti political actors, this piece explains the economic, rather than solely institutional, barriers to political participation in Kuwait prior to the dissolution of parliament in May 2024. This discussion will help to demonstrate the political salience of socioeconomic class in the rentier states of the Arabian Peninsula and the place of parliament(s) within the existing class system, as well as indicating the extent to which the existence of parliament served to reify or to overcome socioeconomic class divides in Kuwait.