Saudi Arabian Leadership
Saudi Arabian Leadership
January 14, 2015
This has been prepared for with the efforts of the following members:
Hunter Norwick, Shervin Yousef-Zadeh, Moses Monterroza, Kirsten Campbell, and Connor Rollit.
Abdullah ibn Abdilazīz, King of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister of Council of Ministers, and the commander of the National Guard, is on his death throes. On New Year’s Eve, the Saudi King was admitted to the Riyadh Hospital for pneumonia.[1] Abdullah became the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia in 1996, and officially became its king in 2005.[2] Abdullah’s half-brother, Salman, is temporarily performing the functions of the king. However, he too suffers from poor health, allegedly being diagnosed with dementia.[3]
Relative to his peers, Abdullah is regarded as a reformer. For example, he has increased the number of women in the Shura Council to 30 members, which is a short but noticeable step vis-à-vis gender equality.[4] Perceived as incorruptible, pious, and personally austere, Abdullah domestically popular.
Following the Arab Spring, Abdullah began a $400 billion program to improve education, health care, and infrastructure, which included a smaller support package for lower-income Saudis.[5] This has been effective at quelling dissent in the Kingdom and lowered concerns of a similar uprising in Saudi Arabia. Abdullah is not afraid of making decisions that produce domestic opposition, such as his policy of maintaining a close relationship with the United States and a very pro-American foreign stance. During Abdullah’s reign, a number of progressive policies related to women’s rights have been put forward. Women in Saudi Arabia are expected to receive suffrage and gain the ability to run in municipal elections by 2015. [6]
King Abdullah is a figurehead of stability and an enormous presence on the regional stage. His loss, when it comes, will have large ramifications.
