Tribalism and Political Power in the Gulf

Gulf societies are often described as being intensely tribal. However, in discussions of state building and national identity, the role of tribalism and tribal identity is often overlooked. This book analyses the political role of tribes in Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE aiming to understand the degree to which tribes hinder or advance popular participation in government and to what extent they exert domestic political power.
The research traces the historical relationship between ruling elites and nomadic tribes, and, by constructing political histories of these states and analysing the role of tribes in domestic political life and social hierarchies, reveals how they serve as major political actors in the Gulf.
A key focus of the book is understanding the extent to which societies in the Gulf have become ‘re-bedouinised’ in the modern era and how this has shaped these states’ political processes and institutions. The book explores the roles that tribes play in the development of “progressive” citizenship regimes and policymaking today, and how they are likely to be influential in the future within rentier environments.

Alanoud al-Sharekh is the Director of Ibtkar Strategic Consultancy leading political, leadership and diversity training programs in Kuwait and the GCC region. She is chairperson of the Chaillot award winning Abolish 153 campaign to end honor killing legislations, and a cofounder of Mudhawis List, a platform to support women running for political office. Her research won the Arab Prize for best publication in a foreign journal in 2014, and includes books such as The Gulf Family, and Popular and Political Cultures of the Arabian Gulf States, examining the persistent importance of family and tribe in modern Gulf politics and society. She is currently a MENA Fellow at Chatham House and a Research Fellow at AGISW.


Courtney Freer is Assistant Research Fellow at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is the author of Rentier Islamism: The Influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gulf Monarchies (2018)..