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.Within classes there are strong kinship bonds, which help maintain the social structure.
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Social stratification is perpetuated by the state, as in the legal ability to own property by cultural factors, such as marriage patterns, and by social rights, such as the provision or lack of state funded education, healthcare, and housing.
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Within this hierarchy there are enormous gaps between the vastly rich, the middle class, and the extraordinarily poor migrants.
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Kuwaiti government is nominally a constitutional monarchy, headed by the Amir.
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The constitution was approved and implemented on 11 November 1962.
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Upon the development of this constitutional monarchy, Kuwait developed a National Assembly.
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This form of democracy was short-lived, however. In August 1976, Sheikh Sabah dissolved the assembly under the premise that legislation was being manipulated to increase private gain for officials
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As a political system built on a hierarchy of clans, nepotism is rampant in the Kuwaiti government.
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Therefore, it is in the Amir's power to dissolve the parliament, and within two months it must be re-elected, or the previous parliament will be instituted again.
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There are not any national political parties or leaders, yet several political groups act as de facto parties.
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| These include the Bedouins, merchants, nationalists, Sunni and Shi'a activists, and secular leftists. |
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| These de facto parties are divided along the lines of class and religion. |
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| Social problems stem predominantly from the various systemic hierarchies. |
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| Within these structures, groups and individuals are constantly struggling to either improve or maintain their position. |
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As of late, the position of women within these structures has been a subject of great debate.
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Similarly, the degree to which Islam should influence political structures is also a source of debate and contention.
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Presently, political and social controls are influenced by a combination of Islam and tradition, but this is being questioned in the increasingly multicultural environment of Kuwait.
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Kuwait has an army, navy, and air force. The national police force, national guard, and coast guard are also part of the military. During 1999-2000, $2.5 billion (U.S.) was spent on the military.
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Social service programs have long been an important agenda item for Kuwait's government, with education and health being two of the country's major expenditures.
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In the past there have been many programs providing housing and subsidizing services such as water, electricity, and gasoline.
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Recently, however, these programs have been cut back and are being re-evaluated, as they have lead to an extreme amount of reliance on the state for basic services.
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In the past the Kuwait Fund for Arabic Economic Development was one of the largest and mostinfluential nongovernmental organizations in the country.
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Founded in 1961, the organization made massive loans and provided technical expertise to assist Arab and other developing nations develop their economies.
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In the aftermath of the war with Iraq, Kuwait has been the recipient of assistance from neighboring countries.
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