Led by Dr Courtney Freer, LSE Kuwait Programme
Email: c.j.freer@lse.ac.uk
Courtney's LSE webpage
This research project will analyse the political role of tribes within Gulf societies, often described as intensely tribal. It will answer critical questions about the degree to which tribes hinder or advance popular participation in government, as well as revealing how and to what extent tribes exert domestic political power. By constructing political histories of major tribes and analysing their role in domestic political life, this study will reveal the means in which tribes serve as major political actors in the small Gulf states, beginning with case studies of Kuwait and Qatar.