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Michael Herb | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 7, 1966 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | UCLA University of Washington |
| Known for | All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Political science |
| Institutions | Georgia State University |
| Doctoral advisor | Leonard Binder |
Michael Herb (born October 7, 1966) is an American political scientist who gained prominence through his All in the Family thesis of Arab monarchies.
Herb graduated from University of Washington in 1987, earned his master's degree from UCLA in 1992, and completed his doctorate at UCLA in 1997. He joined the faculty of the Georgia State Political Science Department in 1998. [1]
On his website, Dr. Herb manages a database on key political figures of Kuwaiti politics. [2] [3]
In 1999, Herb published All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies. The book's central thesis is that the main reason for the resilience of Arab monarchies is not oil wealth or the lack of a middle class, but because numerous members of the royal family hold key positions in government. [4] The book has become a regularly cited piece in the comparative politics literature of democratization, authoritarianism, and rentier states.
In 2014, Herb published The Wages of Oil: Parliaments and Economic Development in Kuwait and the UAE, an analysis of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, both oil abundant states, have ended up on different ends of the spectrum regarding the concentration of political power. Some of Herb's findings have concluded that the role of the danger of an invasion from Iraq have had significant influence on the speed and to the extent that the Kuwaiti elites were willing to compromise political decision making power to civilians. [5] The book has been nominated as "one of the best Middle East politics books of 2014" by the Washington Post's political blog, Monkey Cage. [6]
Kuwait is an emirate with a political system consisting of an appointed judiciary, appointed government, and nominally elected parliament.
The economy of Kuwait is a wealthy petroleum-based economy. Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest-valued unit of currency in the world. According to the World Bank, Kuwait is the fifth richest country in the world by gross national income per capita. Kuwait's economy is the world's twentieth-largest by GDP per capita. As a result of various diversification policies, petroleum now accounts for 43% of the total GDP and 70% of export earnings. Steel manufacturing is Kuwait's second biggest industry. Kuwait is self-sufficient in steel.
Politics of the United Arab Emirates take place in a framework of a federal presidential elective constitutional monarchy. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven constituent monarchies: the Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain.
Kuwait City is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Palace, government offices, and the headquarters of most Kuwaiti corporations and banks. It is one of the hottest cities in summer on earth, with average summer high temperatures over 45 °C (113 °F) for three months of the year.
Absolute monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitution may exist in some countries. These are often hereditary monarchies. On the other hand, in constitutional monarchies, in which the authority of the head of state is also bound or restricted by the constitution, a legislature, or unwritten customs, the king or queen is not the only one to decide, and their entourage also exercises power, mainly the prime minister.
The United Arab Emirates, or simply the Emirates, is a country in Western Asia. It is located at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula and shares borders with Oman and Saudi Arabia, while having maritime borders in the Persian Gulf with Qatar and Iran. Abu Dhabi is the nation's capital, while Dubai, the most populated city, is an international hub.
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The council's main headquarters is located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution.
The National Assembly is the unicameral legislature of Kuwait. The National Assembly meets in Kuwait City. Because political parties are illegal in Kuwait, candidates run as independents. The National Assembly is made up of 50 elected members and 16 appointed government ministers.
In current political-science and international-relations theory, a rentier state is a state which derives all or a substantial portion of its national revenues from the rent paid by foreign individuals, concerns or governments.
According to The Economist Group's Democracy Index 2020 study, Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East, while Tunisia is the only democracy in North Africa. The level of democracy in nations throughout the world published by various democracy indices, report the Middle Eastern and North African countries with the highest scores are Israel, Tunisia, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and Kuwait.
MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia, this is another way to reference the geographical region, instead of using the more common political terminology.
The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Yemen is bound to the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, based on history and culture.
Arab League–Iran relations refer to the political, economic, and cultural ties between the League of Arab States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The former is a regional organization composed of 22 Arab states in MENA with a combined majority of Sunni Muslims, whereas the latter is a country in Western Asia with a majority of Shia Muslims.
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south. Kuwait also shares maritime borders with Iran. Kuwait has a coastal length of approximately 500 km (311 mi). Most of the country's population reside in the urban agglomeration of the capital and largest city Kuwait City. As of 2022, Kuwait has a population of 4.45 million people of which 1.45 million are Kuwaiti citizens while the remaining 3.00 million are foreign nationals from over 100 countries.
All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies is a book by Michael Herb published in 1999. The book's central thesis is that Arab monarchies continue to be stable because numerous members of the royal family are given important positions in the government bureaucracy.
The Kuwaiti nationality law is the legal pathway for non-nationals to become citizens of the State of Kuwait. The Kuwaiti nationality law is based on a wide range of decrees; first passed in 1920 and then in 1959. An Amiri decree was passed later in 1960. Since the 1960s, the implementation of the nationality law has been very arbitrary and lacks transparency. The lack of transparency prevents non-nationals from receiving a fair opportunity to obtain citizenship. A number of amendments were made in 1980, 1982, 1994, 1998, and 2000.
The Qatar National Unity Front was a nationalist labor group formed in Qatar in April 1963. It was established as a response to the murder of a protester by a member of the ruling family during a Pan-Arabism demonstration. The movement's establishment took place during a period of popular dissent with the ruling family's extravagant lifestyles, and increasing support of Pan-Arabism.
Ali Khalifa Al-Kuwari is a Qatari democracy activist, author and professor. He has occupied several positions in the oil sector. He is known for editing the book The People Want Reform in Qatar Too, which was subsequently banned in Qatar due to its critical views of government policies. He is one of the primary advocates for political reform in the country.
The following is a timeline of the history of Kuwait City, Al Asimah Governorate, Kuwait, and its metro surroundings.
The Gulf War began on the 2 August 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The war was fought between the international coalition led by the United States of America against Iraq. Saddam Hussein's rationale behind the invasion is disputed and largely unknown. No Iraqi document has ever been discovered explicitly listing these.
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