After the death of King Karl XII, the country, unsurprisingly, stagnated.

Between 1966 and 1982 Upper Volta suffered a cycle of coups and counter-coups and the country stagnated.

There came a time when it became apparent that the country was stagnating, strangling in its hard-bound traditions of iron.

Even if crisis never comes, the international economy could easily fall into gridlock as debtors cut back on foreign purchases, developed countries stagnate and the world's poor tumble further into poverty.

In the absence of a king who could provide strong central leadership, the state structure began to fragment and the country stagnated.

Over the last century, those countries that tried to preserve their systems, jobs, culture or traditions by keeping the rest of the world out all stagnated.

His country had stagnated for lack of technology, he announced, and now he was going to stir it up and get it moving into modern times.

Since then, the expanded country has stagnated.

For a century, that country stagnated on account of domestic wars, foreign occupations and idealistic, but ill-considered experiments, and has, internationally speaking, been placed off-side.

But Kuwaitis feel that their country is stagnating, caught up in endless public squabbles over minor issues.