Constitutionalising the Executive Powers in Kuwait with Reference to the UK’s Law and Experience

According to Article 6 of the Kuwaiti Constitution, ‘The System of Government in Kuwait shall be democratic, under which sovereignty resides in the people, the source of all powers’. However, the domination of the Executive’s powers is a remarkable feature in Kuwait’s political system. Such uncontrolled powers contradict the basic values of constitutionalism. The main objective of this thesis is to promote a soft-transformation toward constitutionalising the Executive’s powers in Kuwait so as to reflect, more faithfully, the desired ethical values of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the separation of powers. Parliament and the judiciary have been identified as the most competent mechanisms to undertake the control of executive power in Kuwait. Yet, the constitutional structure of the executive power system and its controlling mechanisms lack the necessary features to apply this control effectively. The hypothesis outlined above was explored by three different methodologies; firstly, by analysing the constitutional structure of the Executive’s power system and measuring it against the ethical values of constitutionalism; secondly, supporting this theoretical approach with fieldwork by interviewing experts; and thirdly, by comparing the control of executive power with the UK’s law and experience in order to utilise a ‘transfer policy’ method. The main findings of the research indicate that the Executive has obtained arbitrary powers that weaken its accountability system. Thus, the study suggests policies to be adopted by Kuwait in order to empower parliament and the judiciary to exercise an effective control over the Executive’s powers.