In May 2024, Kuwait’s new emir, Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, dissolved the country’s recently elected parliament to pursue a multiyear process of constitutional reform. This book argues that in a region known largely for its fragile states and durable autocracies, Kuwait’s history of vigorous parliamentary politics has made it a salutary exception. From the establishment of the National Assembly shortly after independence in 1961 to the country’s invasion by Iraq in the 1990s and