The Paradoxical Kingdom : Saudi Arabia and the Momentum of Reform

Saudi Arabia remains a closed society with its own interpretation of Islamic Law, an insistence on royal privilege and an uneven record on human rights. This study examines the paradoxes and considers the pressure for reform.

Saudi Arabia is not normally associated with the political instability and social turmoil for which many states of the Middle East are known, but this is changing. Politically astute opposition movements that emerged after the 1991 Gulf War have challenged the House of Saud in a way that the royal family has not previously encountered, and some of these have become radicalized and emboldened. This volume dissects the legitimacy structure constructed by the Saudi dynasty and the challenges posed by the reform movements after 1991. Daryl Champion argues that pre-existing indigenous Islamist groupings have been reconstructed since then, becoming better organized and more effective in their political campaign against the regime, a process undoubtedly aided by the Internet. The regime''s responses to these challenges, including the traditional methods of repression and censorship in an era of global information flows, are examined. Champion''s principal aim is to illuminate domestic Saudi society and politics but, in assessing the stability of the regime, the relationship with the United States is also scrutinized, especially with regard to bomb attacks perpetrated against American military personnel by Islamist factions, including those associated with Osama bin Laden.