Saudi Arabia (SA)

Saudi Arabia occupies most of the Arab peninsula. To its north, the Kingdom borders Jordan and Iraq. To the northeast lies Kuwait, and to its east the Persian Gulf, Qatar and the UAE. Oman and war-torn Yemen border Saudi Arabia to the south. The Kingdom is mostly arid desert. Its natural resources are oil, natural gas and metals such as gold and copper. 

Population

Approximately 80% of land is agricultural but just 1.5% of it is arable. Most economic activity and most of the population is located in the central part of the country.  

The population of the country is approximately 34 million people. The two main ethnic groups in the country are Arabs (90% of the population) with Afro-Asians making up the remainder. There is also a sizeable migrant worker population. Religious groups in the kingdom are overwhelmingly Muslim, with 85-90% being Sunni and the remainder Shia. 

Government

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. There are 13 administrative divisions. The country’s constitution is contained in the Basic Law of Government which is issued by royal decree and is based on Islamic principles, outlining the duties which the ruler of the Kingdom must fulfil. Any amendments come from the King or are proposed by the Consultative Assembly or Council of Ministers.  

Law in Saudi Arabia is a mixture of Sharia law with aspects of Egyptian and French law. There are various other codes that deal with specific kinds of legal affairs. The King is both the chief of state and head of government. The King also appoints ministers on a 4-year basis. 

The legislative is the Consultative Council, which is comprised of 150 representatives appointed by the monarch on 4-year terms.  

History 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia united into its current form in September 1932. The first king was King Abdulaziz whose reign would be transformed by the discovery of oil in the Kingdom in 1938. This discovery would lead to the rise of the American-controlled Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), which would, over the decades, gradually witness Saudi's increased share in the company, until 1980 when the Kingdom was able to own the organisation outright and take full control.

King Abdulaziz was succeeded by Crown Prince Saud whose reign would see important moments in the development of the modern Kingdom, including its primary role in founding the oil producers organisation, OPEC. However, there were also two main political struggles that preoccupied the reign of King Saud; externally, an increasingly assertive Arab Nationalist movement which was being spearheaded by President Nasser of Egypt. His other challenge was an internal one: a power struggle with his brother Faisal which would eventually see him deposed in 1964. 

Assassination, the Mecca crisis and birth of the GCC

In 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by his nephew. He was succeeded by his brother Khalid, who ruled for seven years before his own death in 1982. This again was a mixed period of challenge and success for the Kingdom, with the 1979 shock seizure of the Grand Mosque of Mecca by extremists softly followed by the Iranian Revolution emphasising the need for greater collaboration among Gulf states. This need for unity in the region led to economic and security union in the form of the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981. 

After King Khalid’s death, King Fahd (Khalid’s brother) succeeded to the throne. His reign saw a number of internal governmental innovations, including the introduction of the “Basic System of Government” (which outlined the responsibilities of the ruler in the Kingdom) and also the creation of the Consultative Council as a form of legislature. Again, intense regional dynamics continued to shape the modernising state as did internal ones. Huge resources and strategic importance as well as the destabilising factors of both Gulf wars, the 9/11  attacks, domestic Jihadist attacks and calls for internal reform all helped shape the turbulent history of Saudi Arabia as it entered the 21st century.  

Greater roles for women

In 2005, the Kingdom had a new king, Abdullah, following the death of King Fahd. King Abdullah’s main internal tests came when trying to reform the more conservative parts of the Saudi religious establishment. This tied in with gradually increasing the rate at which Saudi women were given some of the rights as their male counterparts.

In recent years, women have been given more freedom and greater opportunities in the governing of the Kingdom. Women can drive and participate in sports from boxing to football and athletics. They  can now travel abroad unchaperoned, register a divorce and apply for official documents without the permission of a male guardian. Saudi women are ambassadors, high ranking military officers and representatives of the Kingdom's advisory Shura Council.

King Salman and MbS

In January 2015 King Abdullah died leaving King Salman as ruler of the Kingdom. Two-months later, a Saudi-led coalition launched strikes on targets in Yemen following a Houthi takeover of government, which many believed to have been covertly supported by Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main regional rival. This war continues to this day and, aside from the violence of war, has led to a huge humanitarian crisis for the people of Yemen.

Throughout his reign, King Salman has been grooming his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (now often known as MbS), for the future leadership of the Kingdom. An increasingly powerful Crown Prince was given unprecedented responsibility for shaping the strategic priorities of the Kingdom. This is mostly vividly articulated in MbS's Vision 2030 strategy, designed to place Saudi Arabia among the most sophisticated of nation states across all sectors by 2030 and to hasten the diversification of Saudi Arabia’s economy away from its reliance on oil.   

Religion 

Saudi Arabia is a country intrinsically associated with Islam. It is both the birthplace of the religion and home to its two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. Every year, it welcomes Muslims from across the globe who come to perform Hajj, the pilgrimage that all Muslims - those who are physically and materially able to -  must complete.

Modern day Saudi Islam is majority Sunni. The particular interpretation of Sunni Islam that is most present is the Wahhabi form, a conservative interpretation that gets its name from the 18th century Islamic scholar Mohammed ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab. 

There is also a Shia minority in Saudi Arabia that comprises roughly 10% of the population. This community has on occasion been a flashpoint for domestic tension in the country, perhaps most recently after protests over the execution of the prominent Saudi Shia scholar Nimr al-Nimr. 

Minority religions in the country are found in the various migrant communities, as is the case in many Gulf countries.  

Culture

Saudi culture centres around Arab-Islamic culture. The country’s conservative interpretation of Islam leaves a significant cultural mark, although in recent years Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has been making international headlines by easing previously strict laws around cultural life in the country. This included the 2018 lifting of a ban on cinemas and on women driving. 

Those watching Saudi culture should expect significant developments in forthcoming years. Strong traditions of Bedouin, Arab and Islamic life will remain central to the Saudi identity. A key ambition at the heart of Vision 2030 is to carefully modernise this heritage into one that also accommodates and increases the awareness and openness of younger generations to international culture and education. 

Economy and Vision 2030

The Saudi economy is still overwhelmingly based on its oil output. It is the world's largest oil exporter and owns approximately 16% of global oil reserves. Climate change and economic necessity have combined to convince the country that it needs to diversify its economy and society, which it now hopes to realise through Vision 2030. There is now a major drive to diversity the economy. This not only applies to the economy’s current reliance on oil, but also on migrant workers.

Current efforts are aimed at the provision of  jobs for Saudi Arabia’s young population and to increase the country's own self-reliance. This is seeing major investments in relatively new industries in the Kingdom, including opening up tourism, something which had previously only really existed for religious pilgrims. Notable examples of diversification include the 2016 announcement that state-owned Saudi Aramco would take the hitherto unprecedented move of listing some of its shares to allow external investors to buy them. 

GDP per capita is estimated to be around $54,500. Primary industries include oil, cement, ship and aircraft repair and booming construction sectors. Unemployment stands at around 6%.