Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
Promoting democracy? The reality of British foreign policy in Kuwait and the Gulf
Why has our government been silent on the months-long shutdown of Kuwait’s parliament – and why do academics so often refrain from criticising countries in the region, asks IAN SINCLAIR
AUTHORITARIAN: Crown Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, outside 10 Downing Street, London, ahead of a meeting during a visit to Britain in 2023

ON MAY 10 2024 the hereditary head of state of Kuwait, a close ally of Britain and the US, suspended the nation’s parliament.

Announcing the closure could last up to four years, in a televised address Emir Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who will rule by decree during this period, said he would not allow democracy to be “exploited to destroy the state.” The political system would be studied and revisions proposed, he said, followed by “whatever decisions we might deem appropriate.”

As the Washington Post noted in a June editorial: “Such remarks sound worryingly similar to what any number of would-be autocrats have said when annulling election outcomes.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
IS albums
Album reviews / 6 October 2025
6 October 2025

New releases from Steady Habits, Jeff Tweedy, and Tom Skinner

ai con
Books / 2 October 2025
2 October 2025

IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation

IS
Album reviews / 22 September 2025
22 September 2025

Reviews of new releases by Wednesday, Suede, and Nation of Language

IS 2
Album reviews / 9 September 2025
9 September 2025

Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band

Similar stories
A man stands amid the rubble of homes, destroyed by the Isra
Features / 20 February 2025
20 February 2025
One can only imagine what would happen if 2.2 million Palestinian refugees were pushed into Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries, per Trump’s proposal, writes RAMZY BAROUD
MORE THAN MEETS THE
EYE: While USAid does
provide humanitari
Features / 16 February 2025
16 February 2025
With its track record of leveraging cultural power for US gain and barely concealed promotion of coup attempts, the US Agency for International Development will not be mourned among the US’s southern neighbours, write JOHN PERRY and ROGER D HARRIS
A group of people thought to be migrants, including young ch
Features / 9 November 2024
9 November 2024
RAVISHAAN RAHEL MUTHIAH condemns Labour’s £75m border security plan as deaths in Channel reach record highs, arguing that instead, Britain should reopen safe, legal routes for migrants
SOCIETY UNDER SIEGE: Children who suffered mental health iss
Features / 24 October 2024
24 October 2024
The people of one of the world’s wealthiest countries in terms of natural resources have been condemned to violence and poverty by US-backed foreign interventions to secure mineral wealth for corporations, says PAVAN KULKARNI