Governance as obstacle: the reproduction of urban path dependencies in Kuwait

This article investigates how urban governance in Kuwait reproduces unsustainable spatial and socioeconomic outcomes. We distinguish two dynamics: outcomes the state deliberately sustains, above all the residential segregation of Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis, and outcomes it professes to pursue in its own plans yet persistently fails to deliver, such as curbing sprawl and car-dependence or clearing chronic housing shortfalls. Situating governance within a rentier political economy, we treat it not as a neutral mechanism but as a state-spatial strategy through which oil rents are territorialised, with sharply different consequences for citizens and non-citizens. Drawing on interview-based network analysis, we show that authority is highly centralised yet fragmented in delivery and dominated by technocratic agencies, while actors focused on social or mobility concerns remain peripheral. While the government appears to acknowledge the need for reform, Kuwait’s governance regime actively obstructs the city’s ability to shift course, sustaining a path-dependent urban model through institutional exclusion, inertia, and repeated disruption of planning. The article contributes to debates on state capacity, rentier political economy, and urban governance in the Gulf, grounded in both quantitative and qualitative analysis.