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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kuwait
Index
Government: 1962 constitution specifies
"hereditary
amirate" and fixes succession among male "descendants of
the late
Mubarak Al Sabah." Ruler in 1994 was Jabir al Ahmad al
Jabir Al
Sabah, who became amir in 1977. Sixty-member (fifty
elected, ten
appointed) National Assembly created in 1963, suspended
from 1976
to 1980 and again in 1986; replaced in 1990 with partially
elected National Council. National Assembly reconstituted
by
October 1992 elections. Opposition and independent
candidates--
including some nineteen Islamists--won thirty to
thirty-five
seats.
Politics: Al Sabah family dominates political
events,
but several prominent merchant families also powerful.
Opposition, independent, and Islamist elements becoming
stronger
in early 1990s. Political parties illegal.
Foreign Relations: As result of Iraqi invasion
of
August 2, 1990, and 1991 Persian Gulf War, Kuwait's
relations
with the West and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states,
particularly Saudi Arabia, strengthened to prevent future
Iraqi
incursion. In addition to GCC, Kuwait belonged to more
than
twenty international organizations, including United
Nations,
League of Arab States, Nonaligned Movement, Organization
of the
Islamic Conference, and Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting
Countries.
Data as of January 1993
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