New Political Forums and Ongoing Regional Tremors, February 1981–November 1983

Abstract

Two major political forums took shape in and around Kuwait in early 1981 to help address and mitigate internal security challenges relating to the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. The first and most significant was the National Assembly, which opened in March. The second was the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), formally agreed upon in Riyadh by the six oil-rich, Arab Gulf peninsula states of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia in February. Both institutions sought to defend Kuwait (and other member states, in the case of the GCC) against the morass of internal and external security threats linked primarily to the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. This chapter discusses the relative success of the National Assembly in mitigating the effects of destabilizing regional politics at home among Kuwaiti citizens, and of the GCC in formalizing internal security cooperation between member states.