Abstract
This chapter attempts to analyse the complex attitude of Kuwaiti business towards the government’s economic restructuring and rationalisation measures. We argue that the private sector, in its current state, that is, in its monopolistic, elitist form with reserved preferential treatment from authorities, forms its attitudes towards reform policies in accordance with its rent-seeking interests. Therefore, it is supportive of the initiatives that are aimed at the expansion of the scope of the private sector’s activity. However, policies that are intending to shift the employment burden on the private sector or broaden the scope of actual private sector players through encouraging new and foreign businesses do not fall in line with the interests of the established business actors and are strongly opposed.
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Notes
- 1.
According to the views of the respondents from of the merchant background, there are approximately 50 large business groups
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Acknowledgement
This research was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council under Grant ES/J012696/1.
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Nosova, A. (2018). Private Sector and Economic Diversification in Kuwait. In: Mishrif, A., Al Balushi, Y. (eds) Economic Diversification in the Gulf Region, Volume I. The Political Economy of the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5783-0_2
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