Synopses & Reviews
Despite speculation about Saudi interests and loyalties that have been directed at the country since 9/11, Arabia remains the key US ally in the Arab Middle East. Ménoret debunks the facile notions about Saudi society, and focuses our attention on present political and economic realities that cannot be reduced to essentialist "tribalist" ideas. Ménoret illustrates the emerging autonomous--and Islamic--manifestations of Saudi national identity, fiercely reformist rather than medieval, complex and varied rather than merely a justification or support for the rule of the al-Saud royal family. Underlying this account is a sophisticated economic history of the Saudi state, from the eighteenth century to the present day, which details all the alliances and manoeuvres that have brought the country and its rulers to their current precarious position.
Review
"This carefully researched, analytical study of Saudi Arabia during the past century provides a much-needed examination of the country that provides Americans with much of its oil." --J.W. Walt, Choice
Synopsis
Saudi Arabia is a major piece on the world geopolitical chessboard. Despite the suspicion that has enveloped the country since September 11, 2001, Saudi Arabia remains the key US ally in the Arab Middle East, a role secured by its continuing position as the world's largest oil exporter and its ever growing influence in the Muslim world. Yet the country is still very poorly understood. Western observers have rarely been able to penetrate this closed society and its opaque political system. Clich s about the role of oil wealth and fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam often serve to further mask the reality. The true complexity of Saudi society cannot be reduced to a mixture of poorly assimilated modernity and medieval Bedouin tradition.
This volume illustrates the emerging autonomous - and Islamic - manifestations of Saudi national identity, fiercely reformist rather than medieval, complex and varied rather than merely a justification or support for the rule of the al-Saud royal family. Underlying Menorett's account is a sophisticated economic history of the Saudi state, from the eighteenth century to the present day, which details all the alliances and manoeuvres that have brought the country and its rulers to their current precarious position.
About the Author
Pascal Ménoret worked as a French civil servant with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was attache to the French Embassy in Riyadh, beginning a few days after September 11, 2001.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Professor Fred Halliday
Introduction
Going beyond the logic of security
Osama bin Laden and Saudi Arabia
A suburb of the West
Part OneThe Construction of Identities
1 The Island of the Arabs
The other country
The fantasies of outside perception
Contempt for history
The abolition of geography
An unattainable national identity?
Bedouin and sedentary
Sunnis and Shiites, Najd and periphery
Modernity and tradition
2 What Is Wahhabism?
The reforms of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
The Najd revolution
Saudis do not call themselves