saudi arabia in transition Insights on Social, Political, Economic Making sense of Saudi Arabia is today crucially important. The kingdom s western provinces contain the heart of Islam, its two holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina, and it is the United States closest Arab ally and the largest producer of oil in the world. However, the country is undergoing rapid change: its aged leadership is ceding power to a new generation, and its society, which is dominated by young people, is restive. Saudi Arabia has long remained closed to foreign scholars, with a select few academics allowed into the kingdom over the past decade. This book presents the fruits of their research as well as those of the most prominent Saudi academics in the field. The fifteen chapters in this volume focus on different sectors of Saudi society and examine how the changes of the last few decades have affected each. Many of the authors have conducted archival and fieldwork research in Saudi Arabia, benefiting from the recent opening of the country to foreign researchers. As such, the chapters reflect new insights from the field and provide the most up-to-date research on the country s social, cultural, economic and political dynamics. Bernard Haykel is a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University where he teaches and researches the history and politics of Islam and the Arabian Peninsula. He has published Revival and Reform in Islam (Cambridge, 2003)and various articles on Islamic law, Salafism and al-qaeda, among other subjects. Thomas Hegghammer is senior research Fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in Oslo. His book Jihad in Saudi Arabia (Cambridge, 2010) won the silver medal of the Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council of Foreign Relations. He also co-authored Al-Qaida in Its Own Words (2008) and The Meccan Rebellion (2011). Stéphane Lacroix is associate professor of political science at Sciences Po, Paris, and research Fellow at the Centre d Etudes et de Recherches Internationales. He is the author of Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia (2011) named Book of the Year 2011 on Foreign Policy s Middle East Channel. He also co-authored Al-Qaida in Its Own Words (2008) and The Meccan Rebellion (2011).
Saudi Arabia in Transition insights on social, political, economic and religious change Edited by BERNARD HAYKEL Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University THOMAS HEGGHAMMER Norwegian Defence Research Establishment STÉPHANE LACROIX Sciences Po, Paris
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: /9780521185097 C Cambridge University Press 2015 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Saudi Arabia in transition : insights on social, political, economic and religious change / [edited by] Bernard Haykel (Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University), Thomas Hegghammer (Norwegian Defence Research Establishment), Stéphane Lacroix (Sciences Po, Paris, France). pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-107-00629-4 (hardback) isbn 978-0-521-18509-7 (paperback) 1. Saudi Arabia Social conditions. 2. Social change Saudi Arabia. 3. Saudi Arabia Politics and government 1982 4. Saudi Arabia Economic conditions. 5. Saudi Arabia Religion. 6. Islam Social aspects Saudi Arabia. I. Haykel, Bernard, 1968 II. Hegghammer, Thomas. III. Lacroix, Stéphane, 1978 hn663.a8s28 2014 306.09538 dc23 2014020955 isbn 978-1-107-00629-4 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-18509-7 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents Acknowledgments page vii 1 Introduction 1 Bernard Haykel, Thomas Hegghammer, and Stéphane Lacroix part 1: politics 2 Oil and Political Mobilization in Saudi Arabia 13 F. Gregory Gause III 3 The Dogma of Development: Technopolitics and Power in Saudi Arabia 31 Toby C. Jones 4 Enforcing and Reinforcing the State s Islam: The Functioning of the Committee of Senior Scholars 48 Nabil Mouline part 2: oil 5 From Price Taker to Price Maker? Saudi Arabia and the World Oil Market 71 Giacomo Luciani 6 National Cohesion and the Political Economy of Regions in Post World War II Saudi Arabia 97 Steffen Hertog v
vi Contents 7 Oil in Saudi Arabian Culture and Politics: From Tribal Poets to Al-Qaeda s Ideologues 125 Bernard Haykel part 3: islam and islamism 8 From Wahhabi to Salafi 151 David Commins 9 Understanding Stability and Dissent in the Kingdom: The Double-Edged Role of the jama at in Saudi Politics 167 Stéphane Lacroix 10 The Struggle for Authority: The Shaykhs of Jihadi-Salafism in Saudi Arabia, 1997 2003 181 Saud Al-Sarhan 11 Classical and Global Jihadism in Saudi Arabia 207 Thomas Hegghammer part 4: social change 12 Raiders and Traders: A Poet s Lament on the End of the Bedouin Heroic Age 231 Abdulaziz H. Al Fahad 13 Rootless Trees: Genealogical Politics in Saudi Arabia 263 Abdulaziz H. Al Fahad 14 Caught between Religion and State: Women in Saudi Arabia 292 Madawi Al-Rasheed 15 Engendering Consumerism in the Saudi Capital: A Study of Young Women s Practices in Shopping Malls 314 Amélie Le Renard Afterword 332 Bernard Haykel Index 337
Acknowledgments This volume is the result of two successive conferences held in Menton, France, and in Princeton, New Jersey, on the history and politics of Saudi Arabia. The editors would like to thank the Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia at Princeton University as well as the Kuwait Program at Sciences-Po in Paris for jointly funding these conferences. The Kuwait Program at Sciences-Po is a partnership between the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and Sciences-Po. Professor Gilles Kepel of Sciences-Po was particularly instrumental in providing support and guidance for this project, and we would like to extend a special thanks to him. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University for providing funding to cover the cost of the index. vii