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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kuwait
Index
Kuwait's large state bureaucracy emerged in the
post-World
War II period as a result of the vast government revenues
generated by oil. Under the first oil concession, oil
payments
went directly from the oil companies to the amir, who,
along with
his advisers, decided--initially, rather informally--how
much of
the oil revenues would be spent and in what ways. The
historical
elite, notably the merchants, objected to this
arrangement, most
notably in the Majlis Movement of 1938. In time the
government
instituted ministries, budgets, financial controls, and
other
aspects of modern public administration, partly in
response to
such public protests and partly from the practical
necessities of
carrying out a variety of new state functions related to
oil and
to popular distribution of revenues through state
services.
At the top of this bureaucracy is the cabinet, under
the
prime minister, a post that historically has been held by
the
crown prince. The cabinet is appointed by the amir, who
has the
power to dismiss it along with almost every senior
executive
official, including the crown prince, local governors, and
officers in the armed forces. Members of the Al Sabah play
an
important role in the cabinet. Twelve of the fifteen
members in
the original postindependence cabinet appointed in January
1962
were from the ruling family. Although public criticism led
to a
reduction in their numbers, in the 1970s and 1980s a large
number
of ministers, including those in the most important posts,
came
from the ruling family. The remaining cabinet ministers
often
came from prominent families and from members of the
National
Assembly
(see Legislature
, this ch.). These ministers were
generally young (in their thirties and forties), highly
educated
(nearly half with college degrees, some with advanced
degrees,
especially in economics and business, often from United
States
universities), and mostly Sunni.
In addition to the cabinet, Kuwait has several
autonomous
agencies and public corporations. Their employees and
those of
the various ministries comprise the bulk of the nation's
civil
servants. The civil service grew tremendously in the years
after
independence as the state developed a large bureaucracy
devoted
to spending oil revenues. The largest state institutions
are
those providing social services, notably education.
Historically,
this bureaucracy has been staffed largely by foreigners.
Although
the government's policy has been to staff the civil
service with
Kuwaitis to the extent possible, and although most
employed
Kuwaitis work for the state, the government nonetheless
relied
heavily on foreigners to fill positions at all levels
before the
Iraqi invasion.
A second factor contributing to the growth of the
bureaucracy
is the government's guarantee of jobs to all citizens. Not
only
does the state guarantee jobs, but it also offers Kuwaitis
preferential treatment in employment, including higher
salaries
and preference in advancement over non-Kuwaitis. The
government
is the largest employer in the country. Many Kuwaitis
prefer
government employment to other positions even when it
means
undertaking routine tasks that underuse their skills and
time.
Others hold jobs in both the public and the private
sectors,
working in a government office in the morning and working
privately in the afternoon. Observers frequently have
commented
on the country's excessive bureaucracy and overstaffing,
to the
extent that several people are often assigned to what
could be
one job. Several efforts to reform the civil service have
not
reduced the inefficiency and underuse of available labor.
Data as of January 1993
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