Kuwait's Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, ruler since 1977 of the oil-rich state, died over the weekend aged 79, paving the way for a long-awaited succession by his ailing distant cousin, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Salem al-Sabah.

In many ways Sheikh Jaber's personality embodied the inherent contradictions of the Gulf's state rulers. These leaders' lives spanned their countries' development from traditional backwaters to global players on the world's oil market.