아랍의 봄’과 사우디아라비아의 정치개혁

‘Arab Spring’ and Political Reforms in Saudi Arabia

This paper reviews the political reform processes in Saudi Arabia since 1990s mainly focusing on the period under the King Abdullah'srule. And then it analyzes the responses and political reform efforts of the Saudi government after the ‘Arab Spring.’ It also discusses the petition movements for the political reform in Saudi Arabia which have intensified after the Arab Spring and explores the consequences for the Saudi political reforms.The author argues that Islamists and liberal elites demanded political reforms such as political liberalization, expansion of participation and political openness after the 9/11 in 2001 and the Saudi government had responded to the pressure positively taking an incremental political liberalization strategy with the carrot and stick policy. One of the symbolic liberalization measures was the municipal election, held in 2005. This study found that Saudi ruling family's response to the 'Arab Spring' was a preemptive counter-revolutionary strategy which combined a harsh repression of political challengers and co-optation with a package of social welfare subsidies and financial inducements. The first positive response of the Saudi ruling family to the political reform pressure after the 'Arab Spring' was the municipal elections, held on 22 September 2011. And in September 2011, King Abdullah granted women the right to vote in the 2015 municipal election. As another positive measure to the political reform pressure, the King Abdullah appointed 30 women to the previously all-male 150 members Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Council) in January 2013. In the concluding chapter, the author argues that the factors which have contributed to the relative political stability in Saudi Arabia,compared to Tunisia and Egypt, are 1) vast government financial reserves of the Saudi government, 2) the effectiveness of the state's coercive apparatus, 3) well-developed patron-client networks, 4)division of the reform camp between liberals and Islamists, 5)conservative and religious education system, and 6) traditional and conservative ethical norms of the Saudi society. He also argues that the positive factors for the political liberalization are as follows: 1) thecurrents of political liberalization process in Saudi Arabia since 1990s even though it is incremental, 2) the strengthening trend of thefunctions of Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Council), 3) the growth ofSaudi civil society such as human rights NGOs, 4) the growth of thehorizontal communications means of the social networking space, and5) influx of human and material resources and information from theinternational community.