May 2006

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The Saudi Zig-Zag
by J. Kristen Urban

Dr. J. Kristen Urban, an ICPJ Board member, teaches International Studies at Mount Saint Mary’s University and recently visited Saudi Arabia .

That’s what he called it, the business exec and Shura Council member who spoke with us in a recent evening meeting in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. It was his way of describing the process by which Saudi Arabia is coming into the 21st Century. With the zig , policymakers adopt forward‑leaning positions to bring about changes required by the Saudi embrace of globalization, as evidenced, for example, through its 2005 accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO); and with the zag, comes the recognition that leadership can never be too far ahead of the popular will.

It takes time for ideas to catch on, especially in this Gulf society ruled by tradition and governed by a monarchy seen as needing to prove its legitimacy within, while being pressured from without to sponsor dramatic change. Our ten-day visit, which was organized by the National Council of US-Arab Relations and funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Chambers of Commerce, and the Saudi oil company ARAMCO, brought a small delegation of American academics and members of the business community to Dhahran, Riyadh, and Jeddah to meet the policymakers and to ask questions. What we discovered is that–at least at the level of the decision-making elite–there is a determination to bring about change, and that concrete policy actions have been taken in a number of areas. Let me talk particularly about education and trade, and then briefly consider political initiatives and issues related to the status of women.

A number of initiatives in the area of Education are pretty bold, especially in a Kingdom whose self-image rests with its role as the protectorate of the two holy sites of Islam–and with that, a staunch conservative cultural and religious orientation known as Wahabism. First is the compulsory teaching of English in elementary schools, which will open the larger global discourse to all these young citizens as they grow into their adulthood. Second is the introduction of other courses to a traditionally religiously oriented curriculum, one of which will be Western history and culture. In an effort to preserve their own culture in a Western-dominated world, Saudis have been focusing on their own cultural history, to the exclusion of the rest of the world; the new policy is an attempt to redress that–perhaps in ways similar to those of American schools and universities, which are also beginning to offer courses/programs in Islam and Middle Eastern history and culture. A third and no less important change is the determination to re-focus curricula on the “rational” subject areas of math, science, and technology–not only to meet the needs of development (and job formation!) within the Saudi peninsula, but to refocus the discourse of the next generations away from the emotionally charged issues of religion and religious adherence. Finally, in a critical–and politically bold–move, King Abdallah, in the first year of his official reign, has appointed a Georgetown-educated Ph.D. as Director of one of the Kingdom’s major Islamic institutions. The message is clear: while Wahabism offered reform in the eighteenth century, a new era of reform is needed for the twenty-first.

Accession to the WTO has necessitated other changes within Saudi Arabia, perhaps chief among which are transparency in business practices and the adoption of global norms in the transaction of business. Diversification of the Saudi economy is one of the chief aims of Saudi WTO accession, a goal that has resulted in the opening of Saudi society to joint ventures with foreign investors. While Saudi elites are optimistic regarding Saudi Arabia’s future development with such partnerships–and the acquisition of more Western cultural and business attitudes– there is a tension inherent in such a move. Currently, Saudi laws prohibit the importation of many products from the West with questionable moral content (movies, music, books, etc.); the genuine “opening” of Saudi markets to trade presents a real challenge to the retention of Saudi values and norms. Another challenge is that while adopting the logic of economic liberalism, Saudi leadership is committed to maintaining the social safety net for those disadvantaged by the harshness of this logic. Saudi oil wealth is seen as a gift–not only to share with the world, but to sustain the lives of Saudi citizens. Whether or not such intentions can continue to be supported in the face of global competition, is a real challenge for Saudi elites: official Saudi concern for obligations to its citizenry has its basis in the social justice claims of Islam, and certainly serves as part of the legitimization of the monarchy itself. At present there is a huge gap between Haves and Have‑Nots in the Kingdom, and many of the Have‑Nots are migrating to urban centers, such as Riyadh, overwhelming social resources. Moreover, as with the rest of the Middle East, a huge proportion of the population (perhaps 50%) is under the age of 25 and seeking jobs that are in scarce supply.

A few words about two other topics. Political change–which is necessary to address issues such as those raised above–is coming slowly. Perhaps in the future there will be a constitutional monarchy, but that is a long way down the road. King Abdallah is committed to greater transparency and participation. Recent municipal elections were held throughout the Kingdom in which women and men participated. We met one of the women candidates in Dhahran: while she didn’t win, she was ready for the next election! If the democratic mind‑set is established at the local level, and issues and needs can be addressed in the places of people’s daily lives, this is certainly a beginning–and may relieve some of the pressures from “modernizing” policies imposed from above. As well, the Shura Council, or Saudi parliament, is modeling participation at the top. Members are appointed by the King, but all argued that every sector of society is represented in their membership, whether defined by religious, ideological, political, educational, tribal, or occupation‑driven differences. There were no women on the Council, however– presumably that is part of the zag– leadership cannot get too far out front. But the Shura Council was not a rubber-stamp organization–which had been my expectation: indeed, all reported that their role was to develop policy initiatives to present to the King–and in most cases, such initiatives had been given the green light and implemented! Such “shared governance” bodes well for the Saudi future.

Can women drive? No. When asked this by one of the male members of our delegation, a group of bright young Saudi women at Effat Women’s College in Jeddah answered with some exasperation, “You know, this is not our first concern. Women’s status under family law is in need of much more urgent change than our traffic laws!” Indeed, these young women, many majoring in computer science and technology, will soon be entering the workforce, where they are most concerned about their place in the new Saudi society. Saudi Arabia remains a gendered society– women have many opportunities, but must study and work separately from men. This leaves many possibilities out of reach for women–who either cannot (for example) study to become engineers (male universities have invested heavily in state-of-the art institutions, the Saudi MITs; establishing similar institutions specifically for women is not in the budget) or readily serve as engineers if they acquire their education abroad (given the gendered workplace). In this, there are hints of change, a slight zig. We met three women who are members of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, for example. One is a Harvard Ph.D. in economics and CEO of a bank–not a women’s bank. Over lunch, I asked her how that works–how does she maintain her authority if she is required to work separately from her male employees? She laughed and told me that that is no problem for her: she changed things. Her bank employs everyone as (gendered) equals and they all interact as with Western bank office cultures: she only hired employees who were willing to change the Saudi work culture. When asked whether other women were also taking such initiatives, she responded that happily, “Yes, there are a number of us!” This would reflect the zag, where society begins to “catch up.”

What do Saudis want from Americans–i.e., why were we invited to visit the Kingdom? They want Americans to know that their lives were changed as much by 9-11 as were ours: it’s been a wake-up call for both of us. While Americans are trying to understand their own role in a new globalized world, so are Saudis–and they are undertaking policy initiatives to address the need for change and openness. In the intervening years, however, Saudis have not found evidence of a willingness in Americans to recognize this. Indeed, the Dubai port issue was on the front pages while we were there, and raised questions of US racism towards the Arab world in general. A huge problem for Saudis–and for the policy initiatives currently on the table– is the very concrete issue of visas in the United States: young Saudis are now going to Europe or further East for their education or for their business interests, rather than endure the humiliation of acquiring an American visa and then being treated as potential terrorists at every turn in the road once they arrive. The call, then, was for genuine bridge‑building, reflective of the seventy years of history already invested in developing a strong US-Saudi friendship, and for recognition that the way forward for both of us is perhaps a global zig-zag.

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