Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
King (r. 2015–present)

Mohammed bin Salman
Crown Prince and Prime Minister

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy;^[151] however, according to the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia adopted by royal decree in 1992, the king must comply with Sharia (Islamic law) and the Quran, while the Quran and the Sunnah (the traditions of Muhammad) are declared to be the country's constitution.^[152] No political parties or national elections are permitted.^[151] While some critics consider it to be a totalitarian state,^[153]^[154] others regard it as lacking aspects of totalitarianism but nevertheless classify it as an authoritarian regime.^[155]^[156]^[157] The Economist ranked the Saudi government 150th out of 167 in its 2022 Democracy Index,^[158] and Freedom House gave it its lowest "Not Free" rating, giving it a score of 8 out of 100 for 2023.^[159] According to the 2023 V-Dem Democracy Indices, Saudi Arabia is the least democratic country in the Middle East.^[160]

In the absence of national elections and political parties,^[151] politics in Saudi Arabia takes place in two distinct arenas: within the royal family, the Al Saud, and between the royal family and the rest of Saudi society.^[161] Outside of the Al Saud, participation in the political process is limited to a relatively small segment of the population and takes the form of the royal family consulting with the ulema, tribal sheikhs, and members of important commercial families on major decisions.^[138] This process is not reported by the Saudi media.^[162]

By custom, all males of full age have a right to petition the king directly through the traditional tribal meeting known as the majlis.^[163] In many ways the approach to government differs little from the traditional system of tribal rule. Tribal identity remains strong, and outside of the royal family, political influence is frequently determined by tribal affiliation, with tribal sheikhs maintaining a considerable degree of influence over local and national events.^[138] In recent years there have been limited steps to widen political participation such as the establishment of the Consultative Council in the early 1990s and the National Dialogue Forum in 2003.^[164] In 2005, the first municipal elections were held. In 2007, the Allegiance Council was created to regulate the succession.^[164] In 2009, the king made significant personnel changes to the government by appointing reformers to key positions and the first woman to a ministerial post;^[165]^[166] however, these changes have been criticized as being too slow or merely cosmetic.^[167]

The rule of the Al Saud faces political opposition from four sources: Sunni Islamist activism; liberal critics; the Shi'ite minority—particularly in the Eastern Province; and long-standing tribal and regionalist particularistic opponents (for example in the Hejaz).^[168] Of these, the minority activists have been the most prominent threat to the government and have in recent years been involved in violent incidents in the country.^[121] However, open protest against the government, even if peaceful, is not tolerated.^[169]

Monarchy and royal family

The king combines legislative, executive, and judicial functions^[138] and royal decrees form the basis of the country's legislation.^[170] The prime minister presides over the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. The king has usually been also the prime minister, with two exceptions: Crown Prince Faisal, who was prime minister during the reign of King Saud,^[171] and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the current prime minister since 2022.^[172] The royal family dominates the political system. The family's vast numbers allows it to control most of the kingdom's important posts and to have an involvement and presence at all levels of government.^[173] The number of princes is estimated to be at least 7000, with most power and influence being wielded by the 200 or so male descendants of Ibn Saud.^[174] The key ministries are generally reserved for the royal family,^[151] as are the 13 regional governorships.^[175]

The Saudi government^[176]^[177]^[178] and the royal family^[179]^[180]^[181] have often been accused of corruption over many years,^[182] and this continues into the 21st century.^[183] In a country that is said to "belong" to the royal family and is named for them,^[42] the lines between state assets and the personal wealth of senior princes are blurred.^[174] The extent of corruption has been described as systemic^[184] and endemic,^[185] and its existence was acknowledged^[186] and defended^[187] by Prince Bandar bin Sultan (a senior member of the royal family)^[188] in an interview in 2001.^[189]

In its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2010, Transparency International gave Saudi Arabia a score of 4.7 (on a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is "highly corrupt" and 10 is "highly clean").^[190] Saudi Arabia has undergone a process of political and social reform, such as to increase public transparency and good governance, but nepotism and patronage are widespread when doing business in the country; the enforcement of the anti-corruption laws is selective and public officials engage in corruption with impunity. As many as 500 people, including prominent Saudi Arabian princes, government ministers, and businesspeople, were arrested in an anti-corruption campaign in November 2017.^[191]

Al ash-Sheikh and role of the ulema

Saudi Arabia is unique in giving the ulema (the body of Islamic religious leaders and jurists) a direct role in government.^[192] The preferred ulema are of the Salafi movement. The ulema have been a key influence in major government decisions, for example the imposition of the oil embargo in 1973 and the invitation to foreign troops to Saudi Arabia in 1990.^[193] In addition, they have had a major role in the judicial and education systems^[194] and a monopoly of authority in religious and social morals.^[195]

By the 1970s, as a result of oil wealth and the modernization initiated by King Faisal, important changes to Saudi society were underway, and the power of the ulema was in decline.^[196] However, this changed following the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 by Islamist radicals.^[197] The government's response to the crisis included strengthening the ulema's powers and increasing their financial support:^[113] in particular, they were given greater control over the education system^[197] and allowed to enforce the stricter observance of Wahhabi rules of moral and social behaviour.^[113] After his accession to the throne in 2005, King Abdullah took steps to reduce the powers of the ulema, for instance transferring control over girls' education to the Ministry of Education.^[198]

The ulema have historically been led by the Al ash-Sheikh,^[199] the country's leading religious family.^[195] The Al ash-Sheikh are the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the 18th-century founder of the Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam which is today dominant in Saudi Arabia.^[200] The family is second in prestige only to the Al Saud (the royal family)^[201] with whom they formed a "mutual support pact"^[202] and power-sharing arrangement nearly 300 years ago.^[193] The pact, which persists to this day,^[202] is based on the Al Saud maintaining the Al ash-Sheikh's authority in religious matters and upholding and propagating Wahhabi doctrine. In return, the Al ash-Sheikh support the Al Saud's political authority^[203] thereby using its religious-moral authority to legitimize the royal family's rule.^[204] Although the Al ash-Sheikh's domination of the ulema has diminished in recent decades,^[205] they still hold the most important religious posts and are closely linked to the Al Saud by a high degree of intermarriage.^[195]

Legal system

Thumb — Verses from the Quran. The Quran is the official constitution of the country and a primary source of law. Saudi Arabia is unique in enshrining a religious text as a political document.^[206]

The primary source of law is the Islamic Sharia derived from the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the traditions of the Prophet).^[170] Saudi Arabia is unique among modern Muslim states in that Sharia is not codified and there is no system of judicial precedent, allowing judges to use independent legal reasoning to make a decision. Thus, divergent judgments arise even in apparently identical cases,^[207] making predictability of legal interpretation difficult.^[208] Saudi judges tend to follow the principles of the Hanbali school of jurisprudence (fiqh) found in pre-modern texts^[209] and noted for its literalist interpretation of the Qur'an and hadith.^[210] However, in 2021, Saudi Arabia announced judicial reforms which will lead to an entirely codified law that eliminates discrepancies.^[211]

Royal decrees are the other main source of law but are referred to as regulations rather than laws because they are subordinate to the Sharia.^[170] Royal decrees supplement Sharia in areas such as labour, commercial and corporate law. Additionally, traditional tribal law and custom remain significant.^[212] Extra-Sharia government tribunals usually handle disputes relating to specific royal decrees.^[213] Final appeal from both Sharia courts and government tribunals is to the king, and all courts and tribunals follow Sharia rules of evidence and procedure.^[214]

Retaliatory punishments, or Qisas, are practised: for instance, an eye can be surgically removed at the insistence of a victim who lost his own eye.^[215] Families of someone unlawfully killed can choose between demanding the death penalty or granting clemency in return for a payment of diyya (blood money), by the perpetrator.^[216]

Administrative divisions

Saudi Arabia is divided into 13 regions^[217] (Arabic: مناطق إدارية; manatiq idāriyya, sing. منطقة إدارية; mintaqah idariyya). The regions are further divided into 118 governorates (Arabic: محافظات; muhafazat, sing. محافظة; muhafazah). This number includes the 13 regional capitals, which have a different status as municipalities (Arabic: أمانة; amanah) headed by mayors (Arabic: أمين; amin). The governorates are further subdivided into sub-governorates (Arabic: مراكز; marakiz, sing. مركز; markaz).

Bahah —–

Foreign relations

Saudi Arabia joined the UN in 1945^[39]^[218] and is a founding member of the Arab League, Gulf Cooperation Council, Muslim World League, and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation).^[219] It plays a prominent role in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and in 2005 joined the World Trade Organization.^[39]

Since 1960, as a founding member of OPEC, its oil pricing policy has been generally to stabilize the world oil market and try to moderate sharp price movements so as not to jeopardize the Western economies.^[39]^[220] In 1973, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations imposed an oil embargo against the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and other Western nations which supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.^[221] The embargo caused an oil crisis with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and the global economy.^[222] Saudi Arabia and the United States are strategic allies, and Saudi Arabia is considered to be pro-Western.^[223]^[224]^[225]^[226] On 20 May 2017, President Donald Trump and King Salman signed a series of letters of intent for Saudi Arabia to purchase arms from the United States totaling $350 billion over 10 years.^[227]^[228] Saudi Arabia's role in the 1991 Gulf War, particularly the stationing of US troops on Saudi soil from 1991, prompted the development of a hostile Islamist response internally.^[229] As a result, Saudi Arabia has, to some extent, distanced itself from the US and, for example, refused to support or to participate in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.^[138]

China and Saudi Arabia are major allies, with the relationship between the two countries growing significantly in recent decades. A significant number of Saudi Arabians have also expressed a positive view of China.^[230]^[231]^[232] In February 2019, Crown Prince Mohammad defended China's Xinjiang re-education camps for Uyghur Muslims.^[233]^[234] According to The Diplomat, Saudi Arabia's human rights record has "come under frequent attack abroad and so defending China becomes a roundabout way of defending themselves."^[235]

The consequences of the 2003 invasion and the Arab Spring led to increasing alarm within the Saudi monarchy over the rise of Iran's influence in the region.^[236] These fears were reflected in comments of King Abdullah,^[198] who privately urged the United States to attack Iran and "cut off the head of the snake".^[237]

Saudi Arabia has been seen as a moderating influence in the Arab–Israeli conflict, periodically putting forward a peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians and condemning Hezbollah.^[238] Saudi Arabia halted new trade and investment dealings with Canada and suspended diplomatic ties in a dramatic escalation of a dispute over the kingdom's arrest of women's rights activist Samar Badawi on 6 August 2018.^[239]^[240]

In 2017, as part of its nuclear power programme, Saudi Arabia planned to extract uranium domestically, taking a step towards self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel.^[241]

Allegations of sponsoring global terrorism

Saudi Arabia has been accused of sponsoring Islamic terrorism.^[242]^[243] According to Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in March 2014, Saudi Arabia along with Qatar provided political, financial, and media support to terrorists against the Iraqi government.^[244] Similarly, President of Syria Bashar al-Assad noted in 2015 that the sources of the extreme ideology of the terrorist organization ISIS and other such salafist extremist groups are the Wahabbism that has been supported by the royal family of Saudi Arabia.^[245]

Relations with the U.S. became strained following 9/11 terror attacks.^[246] American politicians and media accused the Saudi government of supporting terrorism and tolerating a jihadist culture.^[247] According to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December 2010 , "Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups... Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide."^[248] The Saudi government denies these claims or that it exports religious or cultural extremism.^[249] In September 2016, the U.S. Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act that would allow relatives of victims of the 11 September attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for its government's alleged role in the attacks.^[250] In 2014, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars, issued a fatwa explicitly prohibiting joining or supporting terrorist organizations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda.^[251] According to the U.S. Department of State, "Saudi Arabia plays an important role in working toward a peaceful and prosperous future for the region and is a strong partner in security and counterterrorism efforts and in military, diplomatic, and financial cooperation."^[252] A significant Saudi counterterrorism success was the foiling of a 2010 cargo plane bomb plot.^[253] In December 2015, Saudi Arabia announced the formation of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition , an alliance of Muslim-majority countries aimed at combating terrorism and extremism.^[254]

However, since 2016 the kingdom began backing away from Islamist ideologies.^[255] Several reforms took place including curbing the powers of religious police,^[256] and stopping funding mosques in foreign countries.^[257]

Military

M1 Abrams tank of the Royal Saudi Land Forces

Al-Riyadh-class frigate of the Royal Saudi Navy

Eurofighter Typhoon of the Royal Saudi Air Force

Saudi Arabia's military forces include the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia under the Ministry of Defence, which consist of the Royal Saudi Land Forces (which include the Royal Guard), the Air Force, the Navy, the Air Defence, and the Strategic Missile Force; the Saudi Arabian National Guard under the Ministry of National Guard; paramilitary forces under the Minister of Interior, including the Saudi Arabian Border Guard and the Facilities Security Force; and the Presidency of State Security, including the Special Security Force and the Emergency Force. As of 2023 there are 127,000 active personnel in the Armed Forces, 130,000 in the National Guard, and 24,500 in the paramilitary security forces. The National Guard is made up of tribal forces that are loyal to the Saudi royal family and have a role in both domestic security and foreign defence.^[258]^[259] Saudi Arabia has security relationships with the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, which provide it with training and weapons.^[260]

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest percentages of military expenditure in the world, spending around 8% of its GDP in its military, according to the 2020 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimate,^[261] which places it as the world's third largest military spender behind the United States and China,^[262] and the world's largest arms importer from 2015 to 2019, receiving half of all the U.S. arms exports to the Middle East.^[263]^[264] Spending on defence and security has increased significantly since the mid-1990s and was about US$78.4 billion as of 2019.^[262] According to the BICC, Saudi Arabia is the 28th most militarized country in the world and possesses the second-best military equipment qualitatively in the region, after Israel.^[265] Its modern high-technology arsenal makes Saudi Arabia among the world's most densely armed nations.^[266]

The kingdom has a long-standing military relationship with Pakistan; it has long been speculated that Saudi Arabia secretly funded Pakistan's atomic bomb program and seeks to purchase atomic weapons from Pakistan in the near future.^[267]^[268]

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia mobilized 150,000 troops and 100 fighter jets to support its intervention in the civil war in neighbouring Yemen.^[269]^[270] By early 2016, Saudi ground forces and their coalition allies captured Aden and parts of southwest Yemen, though the Houthis continued to control northern Yemen and the capital city Sanaa. From there the Houthis launched successful attacks across the border into Saudi Arabia.^[271] The Saudi military has also carried out an aerial bombing campaign and a naval blockade aimed at stopping weapons shipments to the Houthis.^[272]^[273]

Human rights

This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. (June 2023)

The Saudi government, which mandates Muslim and non-Muslim observance of Sharia law under the absolute rule of the House of Saud, has been denounced by various international organizations and governments for violating human rights within the country.^[274] The authoritarian regime is consistently ranked among the "worst of the worst" in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil rights.^[275] According to Amnesty International, security forces continue to torture and ill-treat detainees to extract confessions to be used as evidence against them at trial.^[276] Saudi Arabia abstained from the United Nations vote adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, saying it contradicted Sharia.^[277] Mass executions, such as those carried out in 2016, in 2019, and in 2022, have been condemned by international rights groups.^[278]

Since 2001, Saudi Arabia has engaged in widespread internet censorship. Most online censorship generally falls into two categories: one based on censoring "immoral" (mostly pornographic and LGBT-supportive websites along with websites promoting any religious ideology other than Sunni Islam) and one based on a blacklist run by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Media, which primarily censors websites critical of the Saudi regime or associated with parties that are opposed to or opposed by Saudi Arabia.^[279]^[280]^[281]

Saudi Arabian law does not recognize sexual orientations or religious freedom, and the public practice of non-Muslim religions is actively prohibited.^[283] The justice system regularly engages in capital punishment, which has included public executions by beheading.^[284]^[285] In line with Sharia in the Saudi justice system, the death penalty can theoretically be imposed for a wide range of offenses,^[286] including murder, rape, armed robbery, repeated drug use, apostasy,^[287] adultery,^[288] witchcraft and sorcery,^[289] and can be carried out by beheading with a sword,^[287] stoning or firing squad,^[288] followed by crucifixion (exposure of the body after execution).^[289] In 2022, the Saudi Crown Prince stated that capital punishments will be removed "except for one category mentioned in the Quran", namely homicide, under which certain conditions must be applied.^[290] In April 2020, Saudi Supreme Court issued a directive to eliminate the punishment of flogging from the Saudi court system, replaced by imprisonment or fines.^[291]^[292]

Historically, Saudi women faced discrimination in many aspects of their lives and under the male guardianship system were effectively treated as legal minors.^[293] The treatment of women had been referred to as "sex segregation"^[294]^[295] and "gender apartheid".^[296]^[297] As of June 2023, the kingdom has reportedly reversed its ban on women "becoming lawyers, engineers, or geologists" and established "aggressive affirmative action programs", doubling the female labour force participation rate. It has added "its first female newspaper editors, diplomats, TV anchors and public prosecutors", with a female head of the Saudi stock exchange and member on the board of Saudi Aramco.^[298] In addition, on June 24th, 2018, the Saudi government issued a law officially allowing women to drive.^[299]

Saudi Arabia is a notable destination country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of slave labour and commercial sexual exploitation.^[300] Migrants from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are employed in the country's construction, hospitality, and domestic work sectors under the kafala system which human rights groups say is linked to abuses including modern slavery.^[301]^[302]