The Paradoxical Kingdom: Saudi Arabia and the Momentum of Reform
The major player in the OPEC international oil industry cartel, Saudi Arabia is also the homeland of the Prophet Muhammad and the center of the Muslim world with the most sacred Islamic sites located in and around the cities of Mecca and Madina. To the non-Saudi, the kingdom appears remarkably calm and stable, at least by the standards of the Middle East. But the rise of a new type of international terrorism, personified by exiled Saudi Osama bin Laden and with extensive roots in post- Gulf...
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The Paradoxical Kingdom shows how religion, tradition, society, economics, politics, and the state interact with each other in Saudi Arabia as the nation lurches into the twenty-first century. The book shows how wealth has been squandered, examines the Arabian equivalent of Asia's infamous 'crony capitalism,' and considers the durability of the Al Saud dynasty. Library Journal Since its founding in the early 20th century, Saudi Arabia has been of key strategic and economic importance to the West. The al-Saud dynasty, which has governed the kingdom since its establishment, has developed an understanding with the United States: In return for an affordable and regular supply of oil, Washington would guarantee the security and survival of the Saud dynasty. This informal arrangement has worked remarkably well for both sides. However, events since September 11, 2001, have challenged some of the assumptions of the U.S.-Saudi relationship and have catapulted the kingdom to the center of the emerging foreign policy debate in Washington. In this detailed, informative, and well-researched study, Champion, a specialist in Saudi affairs and a former scholar at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, focuses on the challenges Saudi Arabia faces both at home and abroad and the sociopolitical and economic factors that may undermine its stability in the 21st century. This evenhanded account is recommended for academic and large public libraries.-Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, AL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
AcknowledgementsNote on Arabic Transliteration and ConceptsGlossaryMap of Saudi ArabiaCh. 1Introduction1Ch. 2The Founding of Modern Saudi Arabia: State and Society20Ch. 3The Oil Boom and Modernisation: the Rise of asabiyya Capitalism and Social Stress76Ch. 4The Restructuring of an Oil State: the Challenges of Economic Reform and Socio-economic Change in the Era of Globalisation141Ch. 5Instability within Stability: Domestic Political Opposition and Regime Responses216Ch. 6Conclusion309App.: Sources and further reading317Bibliography331Index371
\ Washington TimesDeserves a round of applause.\ — Arnold Beichman\ \ \ \ \ \ ChoiceChampion offers an excellent review of Saudi history... Highly recommended [for] graduate, faculty, and professional collections.\ \ \ \ Middle East PolicySaudi stability is the subject of Daryl Champion's book The Paradoxical Kingdom. Champion starts from the premise that Saudi Arabia remains of critical economic and strategic importance to the West.... He has done a good job of synthesizing the workd of other observers of the Saudi scene and weighing the merits of their research.... His conclusions are balanced and avoid the alarmist tone of so much other recent writing about the kingdom.\ — Brooks Wrampelmeier\ \ \ \ \ \ Middle East JournalThe overall scope of the book and the author's keen insights help dispel much of the misinformation and misperceptions that seem to cloud outsiders' views of this important but essentially closed society.\ — David E. Long\ \ \ \ \ \ International AffairsThis book is for both the specialist and the non-specialist alike, since it presents a comprehensive analysis of the Kingdom... [A]ccompanied by interviews with a range of Saudi personalities including some related to the regime... this is a serious study that is worth attention, whether one is approaching the complexities of the Saudi regime for the first time or wishes to examine more closely the predicaments currently faced by the Kingdom.\ — Alejandra Galindo Marines\ \ \ \ \ \ Arab Studies JournalHis style is meticulous and he is... adept at interweaving and overlapping an enormous amount of material.\ — Peter C. Valenti\ \ \ \ \ \ Washington TimesDeserves a round of applause.\ \ \ \ \ \ Middle East PolicySaudi stability is the subject of Daryl Champion's book The Paradoxical Kingdom. Champion starts from the premise that Saudi Arabia remains of critical economic and strategic importance to the West.... He has done a good job of synthesizing the workd of other observers of the Saudi scene and weighing the merits of their research.... His conclusions are balanced and avoid the alarmist tone of so much other recent writing about the kingdom.\ \ \ \ \ \ Middle East JournalThe overall scope of the book and the author's keen insights help dispel much of the misinformation and misperceptions that seem to cloud outsiders' views of this important but essentially closed society.\ \ \ \ \ \ International AffairsThis book is for both the specialist and the non-specialist alike, since it presents a comprehensive analysis of the Kingdom... [A]ccompanied by interviews with a range of Saudi personalities including some related to the regime... this is a serious study that is worth attention, whether one is approaching the complexities of the Saudi regime for the first time or wishes to examine more closely the predicaments currently faced by the Kingdom.\ \ \ \ \ \ Arab Studies JournalHis style is meticulous and he is... adept at interweaving and overlapping an enormous amount of material.\ \ \ \ \ \ Library JournalSince its founding in the early 20th century, Saudi Arabia has been of key strategic and economic importance to the West. The al-Saud dynasty, which has governed the kingdom since its establishment, has developed an understanding with the United States: In return for an affordable and regular supply of oil, Washington would guarantee the security and survival of the Saud dynasty. This informal arrangement has worked remarkably well for both sides. However, events since September 11, 2001, have challenged some of the assumptions of the U.S.-Saudi relationship and have catapulted the kingdom to the center of the emerging foreign policy debate in Washington. In this detailed, informative, and well-researched study, Champion, a specialist in Saudi affairs and a former scholar at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, focuses on the challenges Saudi Arabia faces both at home and abroad and the sociopolitical and economic factors that may undermine its stability in the 21st century. This evenhanded account is recommended for academic and large public libraries.-Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, AL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.\ \
