Product Description

Written by a highly reputable author, this book provides a much needed, broad ranging survey of the development of the Saudi economy from the 1960s to the present day.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #427193 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Review

Professor Niblock’s tautly-argued, factual, analysis offers the keys to the Saudi Kingdom to everyone interested in seriously understanding the political economy of contemporary Arabia.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO, HM Ambassador, Kabul.

This is a most profound and revealing survey, packed with fresh research, sharp analysis, and new understanding. Tim Niblock writes so lucidly and logically, combining inside knowledge with detached academic scrutiny. He makes sense of the Saudi economy in the recent past and today, weighing its potential and problems, and asking the right questions about the future. This elegant, masterful, yet most accessible book is a must for anyone doing business in the Kingdom - or contemplating it. 

Robert Lacey, author of The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Saud.

No economy in the world is at once as opaque and as strategically significant as that of Saudi Arabia. While its oil output and revenues play a major role in the functioning of the world economy, Saudi Arabia is a major player in the Middle Eastern region, even as it confronts a range of major policy issues at home, in regard to employment, the participation of women, skills and immigration. The authors of this pioneering study, Professor Tim Niblock and Monica Malik, have performed an important service in addressing these issues in a volume that is as rich in detail as it is measured in comment. It promises to be the standard work on the topic.

Professor Fred Halliday, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Professor Niblock’s tautly-argued, factual, analysis offers the keys to the Saudi Kingdom to everyone interested in seriously understanding the political economy of contemporary Arabia.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO, HM Ambassador, Kabul.

This is a most profound and revealing survey, packed with fresh research, sharp analysis, and new understanding. Tim Niblock writes so lucidly and logically, combining inside knowledge with detached academic scrutiny. He makes sense of the Saudi economy in the recent past and today, weighing its potential and problems, and asking the right questions about the future. This elegant, masterful, yet most accessible book is a must for anyone doing business in the Kingdom - or contemplating it. 

Robert Lacey, author of The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Saud.

No economy in the world is at once as opaque and as strategically significant as that of Saudi Arabia. While its oil output and revenues play a major role in the functioning of the world economy, Saudi Arabia is a major player in the Middle Eastern region, even as it confronts a range of major policy issues at home, in regard to employment, the participation of women, skills and immigration. The authors of this pioneering study, Professor Tim Niblock and Monica Malik, have performed an important service in addressing these issues in a volume that is as rich in detail as it is measured in comment. It promises to be the standard work on the topic.

Professor Fred Halliday, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

From the Back Cover

This book is a broad-ranging survey of the development of the political economy of Saudi Arabia from the 1960s right up to the present day. The first of its kind, the book analyses the social and political dynamics which have shaped economic development, the outcomes which have ensued, and the challenges which currently face the country’s further development. The focus throughout is on the way in which social, political and economic factors interact and set the limits and character of development.

The context is set by the massive increase in revenues accruing to the Saudi state following the sharp rise in oil prices since 2004. The Saudi government’s current economic strategy envisages Saudi Arabia emerging as a major industrial power, with a substantial stake in the global petrochemicals market. Do the dynamics of Saudi Arabia’s political economy, as it has developed since the discovery of oil, suggest that such a strategy could succeed? Is the social basis of the Saudi state, especially the state–private sector relationship, geared to that kind of outcome? Does Saudi Arabia share the characteristics which have enabled some Far Eastern and South-East Asian countries to undergo rapid industrialisation? If the strategy is successful, what will it mean for the Saudi population, and will the social impact be positive or negative? These are the issues and concerns addressed in the book.

Written by a highly respected scholar, with input from a hands-on economic analyst, The Political Economy of Saudi Arabia is ideal reading for those with practical involvement in Saudi Arabia and both students and academics in the area of Middle Eastern studies.

About the Author

Tim Niblock is Professor in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, UK.

Monica Malik has worked for a number of international financial institutions as senior economist for the Middle East, and is currently based in Dubai.