By Avishek Deb
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman has been attempting to present a refreshing face of the ruling elite in the country, with the recent unveiling of his economic plan, Vision 2030, which seeks to steer the country’s economy away from oil and towards inclusive development powered by green energy.
Economic and social reforms
Prince Mohammed has combined the economic reforms with reforms in society, including rescinding the ban on women driving, as well as encouraged physical education for girls in schools. While announcing his plans for the development of a £380 billion economic development zone last October, the Prince highlighted that he wants to transform Saudi Arabia into a “moderate Islamic nation”, and hopes to abolish extremism.
“We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today,” he said. “We will end extremism very soon.” Prince Mohammed who became heir to the throne in June 2017 added he thinks the conservative model which currently prevails in all aspects of Saudi life is no longer an accurate representation of Saudi culture, and he hopes that his modernizing plans will be accepted by the old conservatives.
Just a rosy picture?
However, his modernization drive has met with scepticism worldwide as the Prince doesn’t have a very great track record of administration. The Prince is responsible for plunging his country into the devastating civil war currently underway in Yemen, aggravating the humanitarian crisis. In October last year, the United Nations blacklisted the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that killed and injured children by attacking hospitals and schools. Furthermore, he is also responsible for imposing a counter-productive trade embargo on Qatar and the diplomatic crisis that followed in December 2017.
The Prince has also been criticised for trying to consolidate his power by side-lining conservative clerics and putting loyalists and trusted relatives in powerful positions in the administration. Additionally, although the Prince supports women’s rights and vows to increase women employment in the public sector to 30% he has fallen short of abolishing male guardianship over females.
Several experts have expressed concerns about the fact that although these reforms are all welcomed change in Saudi Arabia, they will not have accountability till there is a complete overhaul of the political system in the country. Until a democratic system with free and fair representation is established in Saudi Arabia, the royal decrees will be subject to the whims and fancies of the ruling elites, who do not necessarily share the same problems as the ordinary citizens. This has been seen all across the Middle East including in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates where incumbent rulers have relaxed restrictive societal laws but have increased government censorship and stifled opposition.
There has also been a general trend of waning support for conservative Islamic principles in the recent past. Post the Arab Spring of 2011 in Egypt support for Sharia Law has decreased from 84% to 36% as found by data collected in 2016. Lebanon and Morocco have recorded a consistent dwindling in the number of people listening to Quran recitals. This change in attitude seems to have triggered the decisions of the monarchs’ across the middle east to sideline harsh clerics. However, it is important to remember that the changing social environment cannot render hardliners powerless overnight, and the conservatives still wield a huge influence over large sections of society. Unless the promise of economic reforms is accompanied by a system of accountability, one can not help but be sceptical of the Prince and his golden age of “modernisation” for Saudi Arabia.
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