Politics and Society in Saudi Arabia

Despite its geopolitical importance and influential role in both the Arab and Muslim worlds, Saudi Arabia has received limited attention from scholars of the Middle East and North Africa. This has been in part because of the dearth of openly available primary sources. Yizraeli bases her research on studies by Saudi scholars, such as Madawi al-Rasheed, on their own country, Arabic sources, particularly journalistic, from the period of development in the kingdom, anthropological studies, and the archives of the United States State Department, British Foreign Office, official Saudi statistics reports, and reports from the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. A student of the late Joseph Kostiner, himself a noted expert on Saudi Arabia, Yizraeli has produced a book which is a useful addition to the literature on Saudi Arabia. Unlike most of the literature on the kingdom, which tends to focus on the period from 1979 onward, the book focuses on a key time period when Saudi society was undergoing significant social, economic, and political changes and tumult. Making use of its immense oil wealth, the Saudi monarchy was able to fund the rapid technological advancement of their society. It was also able to fund social programmes and initiatives, which it continues to utilize to this day in maintaining control over Saudi society. In the wake of the “Arab Spring”, the Saudi government announced increases in funding for a variety of initiatives and programmes, including raises for employees of the state, designed to tamper political protests in the kingdom.