Professor Madawi Al Rasheed

Listen to Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed discuss current Saudi dilemmas on Leonard Lopate talk Show-WNYC Radio
The Saudi Royal family has been a close ally with the United States for decades; they are also one of the most repressive regimes in the Middle East. Madawi Al-Rasheed, Professor of Anthropology of Religion at Kings College, London, looks into the history of the family, how they rule the country with an iron fist and why a nascent protest movement there has been suppressed.
Source: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2011/mar/24/backstory-house-saud/

How stable is Saudi Arabia?
Preachers of Hate as Loyal Subjects
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/14/how-stable-is-saudi-arabia/preachers-of-hate-as-loyal-subjects
How Stable Is Saudi Arabia?
Can the monarchy defuse frustrations by doling out benefits or are pressures for reform mounting? Preachers of Hate as Loyal Subjects
March 14, 2011
Madawi Al-Rasheed is professor of anthropology of religion at King’s College, London and author of several books, including "A History of Saudi Arabia."
Only in Saudi Arabia could Western-educated princes and Wahhabi religious scholars have something in common. Both speak the language of violence and terror. A week before the "Day of Rage" – the proposed demonstrations on March 11 calling for political reform in Saudi Arabia – the religious scholar Saad al-Buraik called for "smashing the skulls of those who organise demonstrations or take part in them."

Why Saudi Arabia is ripe for revolution.
Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/28/yes_it_could_happen_here?page=0,1

In the age of Arab revolutions, will Saudis dare to honor Facebook calls for anti-government demonstrations on March 11? Will they protest at one of Jeddah's main roundabouts? Or will they start in Qatif, the eastern region where a substantial Shiite majority has had more experience in real protest? Will Riyadh remain cocooned in its cloak of pomp and power, hidden from public gaze in its mighty sand castles?

Saudi Arabia is ripe for change. Despite its image as a fabulously wealthy realm with a quiescent, apolitical population, it has similar economic, demographic, social, and political conditions as those prevailing in its neighboring Arab countries. There is no reason to believe Saudis are immune to the protest fever sweeping the region.

Saudi Arabia is indeed wealthy, but most of its young population cannot find jobs in either the public or private sector. The expansion of its $430 billion economy has benefited a substantial section of the entrepreneurial elite -- particularly those well connected with the ruling family -- but has failed to produce jobs for thousands of college graduates every year. This same elite has resisted employing expensive Saudis and contributed to the rise in local unemployment by hiring foreign labor. Rising oil prices since 2003 and the expansion of state investment in education, infrastructure, and welfare, meanwhile, have produced an explosive economy of desires.