The unprecedented suspension of Kuwait's constitution marks the end of an era of change that began with the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003 and was followed by the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad from Lebanon in 2005. In 2011, a series of revolutions broke out and decapitated regimes in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. These revolutions became known as the "Arab Spring". This was written in an article for the Asia Times newspaper by Hussein Abdul Hussein, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington - a non-partisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.
All Arab countries that saw change between 2004 and 2011 saw Islamists climb the ladder of democratic elections to take power - after which, in most cases, they were able to push back the ladder to stay in power indefinitely and reshape the country in their own image, mainly through social engineering. Tunisia and Egypt managed to escape from the trap of the Islamists. On Friday, May 10, Kuwait also defeated its Islamists, and with them its parliamentary system. After the US liberated Kuwait from Saddam Hussein's army in 1991, the Sabah family transformed the country from an emirate to a state. The social contract was renegotiated and a hybrid system emerged that allowed a free press and democratically elected National Assembly, but kept the final say for the emir. Kuwait was close to a constitutional monarchy.
For a number of reasons, Kuwaiti democracy has meant endless strife and paralyzing stalemate, forcing the emir to dissolve the National Assembly and call early elections with unusually high frequency, sometimes twice a year. Every time Kuwait elected its representatives and formed a cabinet, the impasse returned. Kuwait has some of the largest oil reserves in the world. With a population of around one million, it was expected to rival Dubai and Abu Dhabi in terms of growth and attractiveness. Yet democratic gridlock has stunted growth, and once-glitzy Kuwait City has become seedy and backward compared to its oil-rich peers.
One of the main problems of Kuwaiti democracy was its local "Muslim Brotherhood", whose MPs undermined the government at every turn. Operating under the name "Organization for Social Reform", the Islamists in Kuwait have no government agenda other than social engineering. They have created a buzz around Kuwait's long-standing marathon race, in which both men and women participate. Every year they make noise around the Christmas tree in Kuwait City's main mall - Avenues. When the US ambassador to Kuwait wished the Jews a happy Hanukkah, Islamists started a firestorm on social media demanding the ambassador's expulsion, not knowing that sovereign ambassadors' statements cannot be tied to Kuwaiti preferences.
Kuwaiti Islamists dominate public life to such an extent that they have earned Kuwait City the epithet "Kandahar in the Persian Gulf", after the Afghan city of the same name, known as a breeding ground for Islamist radicals. On Friday, May 10, the country's Emir, Sheikh Mishal Al-Sabah, not only dissolved the National Assembly; he dissolved it by suspending some articles from the constitution. The Emir promised to fix the system and restore it within four years. While everyone hopes that Sheikh Mishal succeeds, people are holding their breath for the speedy return of democracy now that it has become synonymous with Islamic tyranny.
What went wrong? How can change in seven Arab countries turn autocracy into Islamist tyranny? In Iraq, we blamed America. In Lebanon we thought it was Iran. But in Tunisia and Kuwait there has been no foreign intervention whatsoever. The answer in all seven Arab experiments with democracy is that there are essential prerequisites for democracy that have not yet been met - first and foremost the spread of freedom. Installing democracy in a society without a tradition of freedom is like allowing an unlicensed driver to drive a car. The chances of a crash are high.
The failure of democracy in Arab countries is not a condemnation of democracy itself, which remains the best system that unleashes the most creativity and therefore economic growth. However, the Arab majority has much to develop and much to learn. Ask any average Arab today about his favorite system of government and he will answer without hesitation that Arab monarchies have fared better than democratically elected governments. As Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain race to transform their economies into knowledge-based ones, liberal economics can help assert freedom. Economic growth creates groups of citizens with vested interests in maintaining peace and the rule of law. From there, liberal democracy has a chance. This has been the road to democracy in South Korea, although every country is different.
This is the lesson we did not learn in Iraq. We assumed that removing the regime and giving the Iraqis space, along with their huge oil rents, would turn the country into a democracy. Instead, the vacuum was filled by Islamism and a democracy emerged - but an illiberal, Islamist democracy where elections are routinely held but the rule of law is always absent.