Download or read book The Afghanistan File written by Turki Al-Faisal Al-Saud and published by Arabian Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Afghanistan File, written by the former head of Saudi Arabian Intelligence, tells the story of his Department's involvement in Afghanistan from the time of the Soviet invasion in 1979 to 9/11/2001. It begins with the backing given by Saudi Arabia to the Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet occupation, and moves on to the fruitless initiatives to broker peace among the Mujahideen factions after the Soviet withdrawal, the rise to power of the Taleban and the shelter the Taleban gave to Osama Bin Laden. A theme that runs through the book is the extraordinary difficulties Saudi Arabia and its allies had in dealing with the Mujahideen. Prince Turki found them magnificently brave, but exasperating. On one occasion in trying to arrange peace among them, he got permission from the King to open the Kaaba in Mecca, and had the leaders go inside, where they were overcome with emotion and swore never to fight each other again. A few hours later on their way to Medina they almost came to blows on the bus. Turki's account gives details of the Saudi attempts in the 1990s to bring its volunteers out of Afghanistan - with chequered success - and his negotiations with the Taleban for the surrender of Osama Bin Laden. The book includes a number of declassified Intelligence Department documents. Prince Turki explains that the nihilistic, apparently pointless terrorism that has been seen in the Middle East in the last twenty years had its origins in Afghanistan with Osama's deluded belief that he had helped defeat the Russians. There is no evidence that he ever fought them at all. Soon after 9/11 Saudi Arabia discovered that it had a home grown terrorist problem involving some of the returnees from Afghanistan. Much of the huge change that has taken place in the Kingdom since has stemmed from the campaign to tackle this.
Download or read book Saudi Arabia in Transition written by Bernard Haykel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-19 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making sense of Saudi Arabia is crucially important today. The kingdom's western province contains the heart of Islam, 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, 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. This volume focuses on different sectors of Saudi society and examines how the changes of the past few decades have affected each. It reflects new insights and provides the most up-to-date research on the country's social, cultural, economic and political dynamics.
Download or read book A History of Saudi Arabia written by Madawi al-Rasheed and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-04 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition covers the political, economic and social developments in Saudi Arabia since 9/11 to the present day.
Download or read book A Brief History of Saudi Arabia written by James Wynbrandt and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important U.S. ally in the Middle East
Download or read book Contesting the Saudi State written by Madawi Al-Rasheed and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-11-30 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The terms Wahhabi or Salafi are seen as interchangeable and frequently misunderstood by outsiders. However, as Madawi al-Rasheed explains in a fascinating exploration of Saudi Arabia in the twenty-first century, even Saudis do not agree on their meaning. Under the influence of mass education, printing, new communication technology, and global media, they are forming their own conclusions and debating religion and politics in traditional and novel venues, often violating official taboos and the conservative values of the Saudi society. Drawing on classical religious sources, contemporary readings and interviews, Al-Rasheed presents an ethnography of consent and contest, exploring the fluidity of the boundaries between the religious and political. Bridging the gap between text and context, the author also examines how states and citizens manipulate religious discourse for purely political ends, and how this manipulation generates unpredictable reactions whose control escapes those who initiated them.
Download or read book Archive Wars written by Rosie Bsheer and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the Saudi Arabian monarchy’s efforts to construct and disseminate a historical narrative to legitimize its rule. The production of history is premised on the selective erasure of certain pasts and the artifacts that stand witness to them. From the elision of archival documents to the demolition of sacred and secular spaces, each act of destruction is also an act of state building. Following the 1991 Gulf War, political elites in Saudi Arabia pursued these dual projects of historical commemoration and state formation with greater fervor to enforce their postwar vision for state, nation, and economy. Seeing Islamist movements as the leading threat to state power, they sought to de-center religion from educational, cultural, and spatial policies. With this book, Rosie Bsheer explores the increasing secularization of the postwar Saudi state and how it manifested in assembling a national archive and reordering urban space in Riyadh and Mecca. The elites’ project was rife with ironies: in Riyadh, they employed world-renowned experts to fashion an imagined history, while at the same time in Mecca they were overseeing the obliteration of a thousand-year-old topography and its replacement with commercial megaprojects. Archive Wars shows how the Saudi state’s response to the challenges of the Gulf War served to historicize a national space, territorialize a national history, and ultimately refract both through new modes of capital accumulation. Praise for Archive Wars “An instant classic. With incredible insight, creativity, and courage, Rosie Bsheer peels away the political and institutional barriers that have so long mystified others seeking to understand Saudi Arabia. Bsheer tells us remarkable new things about the exercise and meaning of power in today’s Saudi Arabia.” —Toby Jones, Rutgers University, author of Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia “There are now two distinct eras in the writing of Saudi Arabian history: before Rosie Bsheer’s Archive Wars and after.” —Robert Vitalis, University of Pennsylvania, author of Oilcraft “Archive Wars explores with conceptual brilliance and historical aplomb the various forms of historical erasure central not just to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but to all modern states. In a finely-grained analysis, Rosie Bsheer rethinks the significance of archives, historicism, capital accumulation, and the remaking of the built environment. A must-read for all historians concerned with the materiality of modern state formation.” —Omnia El Shakry, University of California, Davis, author of The Great Social Laboratory: Subjects of Knowledge in Colonial and Postcolonial Egypt
Download or read book A History of Saudi Arabia written by Madawi al-Rasheed and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-07-11 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saudi Arabia is a wealthy and powerful country which wields influence in the West and across the Islamic world. Yet it remains a closed society. Its history in the twentieth century is dominated by the story of state formation. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Ibn Sa'ud fought a long campaign to bring together a disparate people from across the Arabian peninsula. In 1932 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was born. Madawi al-Rasheed traces its extraordinary history from the age of emirates in the nineteenth century, through the 1990 Gulf War, to the present day. She fuses chronology with analysis, personal experience with oral histories, and draws on local and foreign documents to illuminate the social and cultural life of the Saudis. This is a rich and rewarding book which will be invaluable to students, and to all those trying to understand the enigma of Saudi Arabia.
Download or read book MBS written by Ben Hubbard and published by Crown. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A gripping, behind-the-scenes portrait of the rise of Saudi Arabia’s secretive and mercurial new ruler “Revelatory . . . a vivid portrait of how MBS has altered the kingdom during his half-decade of rule.”—The Washington Post Finalist for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Kirkus Reviews MBS is the untold story of how a mysterious young prince emerged from Saudi Arabia’s sprawling royal family to overhaul the economy and society of the richest country in the Middle East—and gather as much power as possible into his own hands. Since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has leveraged his influence to restructure the kingdom’s economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran. That vision won him fans at home and on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley, in Hollywood, and at the White House, where President Trump embraced the prince as a key player in his own vision for the Middle East. But over time, the sheen of the visionary young reformer has become tarnished, leaving many struggling to determine whether MBS is in fact a rising dictator whose inexperience and rash decisions are destabilizing the world’s most volatile region. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, MBS reveals the machinations behind the kingdom’s catastrophic military intervention in Yemen, the bizarre detention of princes and businessmen in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton, and the shifting Saudi relationships with Israel and the United States. And finally, it sheds new light on the greatest scandal of the young autocrat’s rise: the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, a crime that shook Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Washington and left the world wondering whether MBS could get away with murder. MBS is a riveting, eye-opening account of how the young prince has wielded vast powers to reshape his kingdom and the world around him. Praise for MBS “Saudi Arabia is testing the extremes of tradition and innovation, of half-baked visions and intensifying repression. Ben Hubbard’s authoritative reporting on the inner sanctums of its society offers a perfect synthesis of journalism and area expertise: the best description we have at the moment of why things happen as they do in the kingdom.”—Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Return of Marco Polo’s World
Download or read book Saudi Arabia in the New Middle East written by F Gregory Gause, III and published by Council on Foreign Relations. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States'' relationship with Saudi Arabia has been one of the cornerstones of U.S. policy in the Middle East for decades. Despite their substantial differences in history, culture, and governance, the two countries have generally agreed on important political and economic issues and have often relied on each other to secure mutual aims. The 1990-91 Gulf War is perhaps the most obvious example, but their ongoing cooperation on maintaining regional stability, moderating the global oil market, and pursuing terrorists should not be downplayed. Yet for all the relationship''s importance, it is increasingly imperiled by mistrust and misunderstanding. One major question is Saudi Arabia''s stability. In this Council Special Report, sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, F. Gregory Gause III first explores the foundations of Riyadh''s present stability and potential sources of future unrest. It is difficult not to notice that Saudi Arabia avoided significant upheaval during the political uprisings that swept the Middle East in 2011, despite sharing many of the social and economic problems of Egypt, Yemen, and Libya. But unlike their counterparts in Cairo, Sanaa, and Tripoli, Riyadh''s leadership was able to maintain order in large part by increasing public spending on housing and salaries, relying on loyal and well-equipped security forces, and utilizing its extensive patronage networks. The divisions within the political opposition also helped the government''s cause. This is not to say that Gause believes that the stability of the House of Saud is assured. He points out that the top heirs to the throne are elderly and the potential for disorderly squabbling may increase as a new generation enters the line of succession. Moreover, the population is growing quickly, and there is little reason to believe that oil will forever be able to buy social tranquility. Perhaps most important, Gause argues, the leadership''s response to the 2011 uprisings did little to forestall future crises; an opportunity for manageable political reform was mostly lost. Turning to the regional situation, Gause finds it no less complex. Saudi Arabia has wielded considerable influence with its neighbors through its vast oil reserves, its quiet financial and political support for allies, and the ideological influence of salafism, the austere interpretation of Islam that is perhaps Riyadh''s most controversial export. For all its wealth and religious influence, however, Saudi Arabia''s recent record has been less than successful. It was unable to counter Iranian influence in post-Saddam Iraq, it could not prevent Hezbollah taking power in Lebanon, and its ongoing efforts to reconcile Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have come to naught. The U.S.-Saudi relationship has, unsurprisingly, been affected by these and other challenges, including Saudi unhappiness with Washington''s decision to distance itself from Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the lack of progress on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and Iran. For its part, the United States is unhappy with the Saudi intervention in Bahrain and Saudi support for radical Islamists around the region and the world. The two traditional anchors of the U.S.-Saudi relationship-the Cold War and U.S. operation of Riyadh''s oil fields-are, Gause notes, no longer factors. It is no wonder, he contends, that the relationship is strained when problems are myriad and the old foundations of the informal alliance are gone. It would be far better, Gause argues, to acknowledge that the two countries can no longer expect to act in close concert under such conditions. He recommends that the United States reimagine the relationship as simply transactional, based on cooperation when interests-rather than habit-dictate. Prioritizing those interests will therefore be critical. Rather than pressuring Riyadh for domestic political reform, or asking it to reduce global oil prices, Gause recommends that the United States spend its political capital where it really matters: on maintaining regional security, dismantling terrorist networks, and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. There have been few relationships more important to the United States than that with Saudi Arabia, and it is vital that, as it enters a new phase, the expectations and priorities of both countries are clear. In Saudi Arabia in the New Middle East, Gause effectively assesses the challenges and opportunities facing Saudi Arabia and makes a compelling argument for a more modest, businesslike relationship between Washington and Riyadh that better reflects modern realities. As the United States begins reassessing its commitments in the Greater Middle East, this report offers a clear vision for a more limited-but perhaps more appropriate and sustainable-future partnership.
Download or read book Saudi Arabia in the Mirror of Saudi Cables written by Rüdiger Lohlker and published by Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH. This book was released on 2020-11-20 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the best resources for a thorough understanding of Saudi foreign policy is the Saudi Cables database at Wikileaks. This study is the first exploration into this rich trove of information almost ignored until now. The material selected for this volume provides e. g., evidence-based insight into the ways Wahhabi Islam is propagated all around the world.
Download or read book Salman s Legacy written by Madawi Al-Rasheed and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-01 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: King Salman of Saudi Arabia began his rule in 2015 confronted with a series of unprecedented challenges. The dilemmas he has faced are new and significant, from leadership shuffles and falling oil prices to regional and international upheaval. Salman's Legacy interrogates this era and assesses its multiple social, political, regional and international challenges. Whether Salman's policies have saved the kingdom from serious upheaval is yet to be seen, but no doubt a new kingdom is emerging. This book offers historical and contemporary insights into the various problems that persist in haunting the Saudi state. Madawi Al-Rasheed brings together well-established historians and social scientists with deep knowledge of Saudi Arabia--its history, culture and contemporary politics--to reflect on Salman's kingdom. They trace both policy continuities and recent ruptures that have perplexed observers of Saudi Arabia. This lucid and nuanced analysis invites serious reflection on the Saudi leadership's capacity to withstand the recent challenges, especially those that came with the Arab uprisings. At stake is the future of a country that remains vital to regional stability, international security, and the global economy.
Download or read book Living Oceans Foundation Atlas of Shallow Marine Habitats of Cay Sal Bank Great Inagua Little Inagua and Hogsty Reef written by Andrew Bruckner and published by . This book was released on 2014-09-04 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Habitat maps, bathymetric maps, satellite imagery, and coral reef ecosystem and organism descriptions of Cay Sal, Hogsty Reef and Great and Little Inagua, Bahamas
Download or read book Islam and Political Reform in Saudi Arabia written by Mansoor Jassem Alshamsi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-12 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the link between Islamic thought/jurisprudence on the one hand and political action on the other. It shows how reformism is deeply rooted in Islamic tradition and how Sunni scholars have become activists for change in Saudi Arabia.
Download or read book Saudi Arabia written by Tim Niblock and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saudi Arabia provides a clear, concise yet analytical account of the development of the Saudi state. It details the country’s historical and religious background, its oil rentier economy and its international role, showing how they interact to create the dynamics of the contemporary Saudi state. The development of the state is traced through three stages: the formative period prior to 1962; the centralization of the state and the initiation of intensive economic development between 1962 and 1979; and the re-shaping of the state over the years since 1979. Emphasis is placed on the recent period, with chapters devoted to: the economic and foreign policy problems which now confront the state the linkages between Saudi Arabia and Islamic radicalism, with the relationship/conflicts involving Al Qaeda traced through from events in Afghanistan in the 1980s the impact of 9/11 and the 2003 Gulf War the identification of major problems facing the contemporary state and their solutions. Saudi Arabia provides a unique and comprehensive understanding of this state during a crucial time. This book is essential reading for those with interests in Saudi Arabia and its role in Middle Eastern politics and on the international stage.
Download or read book International Law and Muslim States written by Dawood Adesola Hamzah and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-08-12 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses the general interaction between international law and Islamic law in the Muslim world today. It interrogates factors that often form the root of the tension between the two legal regimes. Literalist interpretations of Islamic law and the modern international law's disposition that does not give due consideration to differences among cultures and civilizations are some of these factors. This work examines the Saudi Arabia textualist approach to the two primary sources of law in Islam, the Qur’an and Sunnah, and argues that a liberal approach of interpretation has become sine qua non especially now that myriad issues are confronting the Muslim world generally and Saudi Arabia in particular. Similarly, globalization has generated an unprecedented multi-culturalism, legal-pluralism, and trans-border interactions in socio-economic and political relations. Therefore, Saudi Arabia, as the bastion of Islam and Islamic nations, is faced with the imperative of adopting a liberal approach to interpretation of Islamic law, with a view to accommodating a wide spectrum of other laws and cultures. The book provides a timely examination of the issue of modern Saudi Arabia, Islamic legal order vis-à-vis the contemporary concept of international law and international relations in specific areas such as international human rights law and trans-national economic matters. As such it will be of interest to academics and researchers working in Islamic law, international and comparative law, human rights law, and law and religion.
Download or read book Aramco the United States and Saudi Arabia written by Irvine H. Anderson Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Irvine Anderson carefully reconstructs the years between 1933 and 1950 and provides a case study of the evolution of U.S. foreign oil policy and of the complex relationships between the U.S. government and the business world. Originally published in 1981. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Download or read book A Labor Market Assessment of Nurses and Physicians in Saudi Arabia written by Taghred Alghaith and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-10-06 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Strengthening the health workforce in Saudi Arabia is central to ongoing reform efforts in the country and to the changing business priorities in the health sector and beyond. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims to increase the size and performance of the Saudi health workforce to meet changing population needs and to achieve ambitious social and economic targets and goals. This book presents rigorous, empirical, and quantitative evidence to support national-level strategic planning efforts on human resources for health in Saudi Arabia. The book, a collaborative effort between the Saudi Health Council and the World Bank, is a first to anticipate and quantify projected future labor market imbalances of nurses and physicians in Saudi Arabia and to identify solutions to close those gaps. Drawing on the latest principles and modeling techniques in epidemiology and economics, the book forecasts future imbalances between epidemiological need and labor market supply and demand. It culminates in a set of policy recommendations to improve the availability, distribution, and performance of Saudi nurses and physicians. The book is expected to be of interest to health workforce planners and health systems researchers working in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
