Assiri has written the first-and possibly the last-overview of Kuwait's place in the world. In keeping with the nervous but self-satisfied mentality that characterized Kuwait intellectual and political life from its independence (in June 1961) until its extinction twenty-nine years later, Kuwait's Foreign Policy is permeated with the question, How did such a weak state survive and flourish in such a tough neighborhood?
The author sees three national goals defining the purposes of Kuwait's external relations: national security, the promotion of Arabism and Islam, and sharing the country's wealth with other Arabs and Muslims. He shows with skill that both in normal times and in times of crisis-especially the Iraqi threats of 1961 and 1973, the Iranian revolution of 1979, the Iraq-Iran war of 1980-88-the Kuwaiti authorities held to these essential principles.
Now that Kuwait no longer exists, the abiding value of Assiri's study lies less in its careful chronological account and interpretation, and more in its aggregate message that the Kuwaiti authorities sought to be good citizens in international politics. Unlike the Saudis, they had no ideology to export. The armed forces were small, terrorists were kept in jail, and anti-Americanism kept in check. In short, by the standards of the Muslim Middle East, the foreign policy of Kuwait was a beneficial force. Assiri's slim volume constitutes a suitable memorial.
