Combating Corruption in Kuwait: A Socio-Legal Study

This thesis is a socio-legal study that addresses the problem of ‘grand corruption’ in Kuwait, which permeates the tier of the high-level officials. Corruption is not only ‘grand’, but also systemic in nature. The analysis of the intrinsic characteristics of Kuwait (as a state) uncovers that its cultural and social systems, political structure, weak public accountability, and government-dominated oil-based economy are the dynamics that trigger and indulge grand corruption as the prevalent corruption pattern. Corruption, then, is perceived to be a ‘governance’ issue, which requires analysing corruption within broad values and principles, such as legitimacy, transparency, accountability, human rights and effectiveness. Although these causes suggest that the problem of corruption can be addressed by several other disciplines, this thesis approaches corruption from a socio-legal perspective. Consequently, legal analysis and effective legalistic reforms are highlighted. From a legal perspective, Kuwait, since its independence in 1961, has responded to corruption. The policymakers have put in place various laws and regulations to address corruption. The responses have varied between regulations directed at the officeholders, civil and criminal laws, and some innovative measures, such the establishment of Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) and the illicit enrichment offence. The core argument of this thesis is that the criminal law dominates both the existing counter-corruption measures and public discourse of combating corruption in Kuwait. Although there are enough criminal measures, they suffer above all from poor enforcement. Furthermore, the criminal law alone is not per se adequate. Kuwait still lacks innovative measures to combat systemic grand corruption. The problem of grand corruption requires the recourse to other non-criminal measures, and in particular, the adoption of more innovative approaches that address this pattern of corruption. These alternatives are explored in the thesis.