Saudi Arabia’s Theater of Reform
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has reshuffled his cabinet, but the promise of reform continues to go unfulfilled. Instead, the Kingdom remains mired in a deep malaise, underwritten by oil revenues, while pseudo-democratic institutions are proving incapable of channeling and resolving social grievances.
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Having raised expectations for real political reform in Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah has instead announced that the time for change has not yet arrived. After reshuffling the cabinet, everything remains the same. The Saudi population, 50% of which is under 15 years old, will continue watching the same old princes on national TV, some who have been in office for forty years, symbolizing the rot at the heart of Saudi politics. The paradox here is that as Saudi Arabia becomes far more active diplomatically in trying to sort out the problems and Iraq, it has become paralyzed domestically.