Influence of Saudi Arabia INTRODUCTION Over the past three dec

Over the past three decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become a political and economic power that commands attention, respect, and envy on the global stage. The political and economic power of Saudi Arabia belies the country's small population and absence of strong democratic traditions. Neither can the prominence of Saudi Arabia be explained solely within the context of strategic location, although this location is a valuable asset that enabled the country to develop a strong alliance with the world's dominant military powerthe United States. The true source of Saudi Arabia's global political and economic status, however, lies in the crude petroleum resource that the country controls and has managed wisely for the past 30 years (Energy Information Administration, 1994, pp. 112113).

This study examines the influence of Saudi Arabia's crude oil resource and the exploitation of that resource on the development of the country's economy and Saudi society. The modern state of Saudi Arabia came into being on 20 May 1927, when a treaty was signed between the United Kingdom and Ibn Sa'ud, whereby the former recognized the complete independence and dominions of the latter (Hunter, 1994, p. 1145). Since the founding of the modern state of Saudi Arabia in 1927, members of the Sa'ud family and other individuals comprising the societal elite in the country have continued to exercise dominant roles in the development and administration of the count

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tor, although the degree of such emphasis varies among countries. One result of this capitalist emphasis is the cyclical recurrence of significant problemsinflation, unemployment, and recession, while a second result is an increasing concentration of productive capacity ownership into a relatively private hands. Socialist economics, as opposed to that of capitalism, emphasizes the primacy of the public sector, and, as is true of capitalist countries, the degree of such emphasis varies by country. In socialist economies, the greater is the emphasis on the primacy of the public sector, the greater are the risks of impaired productivity as a result of depressed initiative and incentive. Islamic economics assumed that no conflict exists or will develop between the public and private sectors, and that each sector works for the greater good of society. The applications of the principles of any systemcapitalism, socialism, or Islamare usually less than perfect. Therefore, conflicts do occur within Islamic economic systems; however, in Islam such conflicts are settled on the basis of the greater societal good, as opposed to settlement on an ideological basis, as is most often true in both capitalist and socialist economies. T

Category: Foreign - I