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Family, Oil, and God

Family, Oil, and God. Rule and Dissent in Saudi Arabia. More indigenous process No direct colonialism Tribal/marriage alliances Wahabbi Islam & the Ikhwan Different symbolic vocabulary “Ancient” claims Islam Gradual process of unification and “statification” from the “inside” out

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Family, Oil, and God

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  1. Family, Oil, and God Rule and Dissent in Saudi Arabia

  2. More indigenous process No direct colonialism Tribal/marriage alliances Wahabbi Islam & the Ikhwan Different symbolic vocabulary “Ancient” claims Islam Gradual process of unification and “statification” from the “inside” out Ibn Saud’s victories Formal recognition 1932 Informal state practices Council of Ministers 1950s No real bureaucratization until 1970s How did Saudi state-building differ from state-building in Turkey, Iraq, and elsewhere?

  3. All in the family (of Saud) King Faisal, Rules 1964-1975 King Abd al-Aziz, 1876-1953 King Fahd (II), died 2005 King Abdullah, 2005-present

  4. Discovered 1938 Aramco/Saudi Aramco 1974-75: 330% increase in oil revenues More proven oil reserves than any other country (about 25% of proven world supply) About 18% US oil from S. Arabia makes up 90-95% of total Saudi export earnings 70%-80% of state revenues 40% of the country's GDP Oil: Oil tanks at the Ju'aymah oil refinery in Saudi Arabia – Photo: Aramco Services Co.

  5. Defense expenditures About a third of Saudi annual revenue spent on defense International distribution of oil wealth PLO and elsewhere Domestic distribution of oil wealth Massive programs of economic and social development Expanded roads, infrastructure, architecture, communications Expansion in education Universities Education for girls What money can buy Armed helicopter "Combat Scout" operating from King Khalid Military City. Photo: Cees-Jan van der Ende

  6. Rentier State model Rentier State:a state that receives substantial income (“rents”) from foreign sources, and where only a few people are engaged in the generation of this wealth Work ethic and state-society relations Oil as supporting & extending pre-existing patterns of power (Fandy) The role of oil: two perspectives Al-Murabba palace, home to Abd Al Aziz and later center of government.

  7. Religion and Politics • Ulama: lawyers, consultants, judges • Quran as constitution • (Literalist) sharia as legal code • The Hajj • More than 2. 5 million pilgrims in one week • Hajj service industry • Extensive influence over education, legal system, public morality • “Morality Police” • Limits on religious freedom • Double-edged sword? Photo: http://www.deskpicture.com/DPs/Places/mecca.jpg

  8. S. Arabia an “Islamic” state, but Islam subservient to Saudi state “Quran as constitution” “Basic Law” codifying crimes etc Power struggles between the royal family, ulema, other Islamic activists Repression, modernity, and Wealth “Puritanical” (Wahhabi Islam) but modern & wealthy What to buy with oil? Urbanization, commercialization Repression Politics as “Tribal” (familial) but globally integrated Foreign workers Three tensions in Saudi politics

  9. Dissent: Origins • Contradictions between wealth/Wahabbi Islam • “Corrupt” royalty vs ord. people and Wahabbi purists • New education system and expansion of universities • Drop in oil revenues • Early 1980s: Oil drops from $32 a barrel to $15; 30% drop in state revenues • Economic crisis • Unemployment, drop in income, infrastructural decay • Foreign affairs • Iranian Revolution, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan • 1991 Gulf War and stationing of US troops in S. Arabia leads to crisis of legitimacy King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, established in 1967. The First Gulf War. Photo: http://www.army.mod.uk/26regtra/our_history/

  10. Dissent: Who • Early secular dissent • 1950s-1960s: Baathists, Arab nationalists, leftists • Islamic dissent • Criticism of the regime, petitions, call for more popular participation, demonstrations • Late 1970s: Siege on Mecca mosque, Shiite riots stemming from discrimination • Radical Islamist dissent • Increasing opposition, 1980s and 1990s • Memorandum of Advice • Formation of major Islamist opposition groups • Jihadist returnees from Afghanistan • Osama bin Laden: Advice & Reform Committee, al Qaeda • “insurgency,” 2003-2005 Surveying the scene of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, in which more than 20 people died and more than 300 were wounded.

  11. Official ulama mobilized to support government Institutional reforms New Basic law, (unelected) Consultative Council, law of provinces Municipal elections, 2005 New legal code State crackdown Hundreds arrested, many executed Major campaign against Islamist dissent, media campaign on behalf of ‘moderate’ Islam All accentuated after 2003 suicide bombings in S. Arabia itself State Responses (accommodation and repression) A photographer records a public execution in Jeddah from behind the bars of a window - photo from Amnesty International.

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