Page 140 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

124 Dubai & Co.

its defenders and deterring any future aggression. Kuwait has,
for example, strongly supported America’s Operation Iraqi
Freedom and in October 2003 pledged $1.5 billion in aid for Iraqi
reconstruction. 27
Another important trend in Kuwait—also shaped by the
experience of the first Gulf War—is increasing democratization.
Like several other GCC states, Kuwait is an emirate, and its ruler
(the emir) has been a member of the Al Sabah family for hundreds
of years. Kuwait has had a national assembly on and off throughout
its history, but since its liberation in 1991 the elected national
assembly has played an increasingly important role. The national
assembly can initiate legislation, question cabinet ministers, and
even influence the succession of emirs by approving the ruler’s
choice of crown prince. The crown prince must, however, be from
the Al Sabah family. Women were not allowed to vote until 2005—
a sign of how nascent Kuwait’s partial democracy actually is.

OMAN: A “REAL” ECONOMY

Come to Oman and it does not take long to realize that you are in a
place quite different from its GCC neighbors. Some differences strike
you right away: men here, for example, wear colorfully embroidered
turbans rather than the white or red-checked headdress (called a
ghutra) found elsewhere in the GCC. Look out into the horizon and
you will find an unmatched diversity of terrain—a mix of mountains,
beaches, desert, and oases that sets it apart from all other GCC
countries. Explore Oman’s religious practices and you will see that
the majority adhere to the Ibadhi school of Islam—a school that is
found almost nowhere else in the world. Hop in a taxi and your
driver is likely to be Omani—as is the young person working the
checkout counter at the supermarket or the cashier at a restaurant.
A nation of 3 million, Oman feels much more like a “real” economy
than do the other GCC states, and the reasons for this become appar-
ent as one explores the country’s background more deeply.
The Sultanate of Oman has been independent throughout its
history. Rather than succumb to colonial influence, Oman built
an empire itself, taking control of areas in East Africa and along
the Makran coast (a region now part of Pakistan). Oman was the
most powerful state on the Arabian Peninsula by the early