Summer Scott Huyette - Political Adaptation in Saudi Arabia: A Study of the Council of Ministers

Political Adaptation in Sa'udi Arabia

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Examining the evolution of the Sa'udi government from 1901 to 1983, a period of major social and political transformation, Dr, Huyette looks at the ways in which a traditional elite, the Al Sa'ud, has managed to surmount the formidable obstacles of tribal and regional differences compounded by rapid modernization. The Council of Ministers, formed in 1953, is one method developed by the Sa'udis to cope with these problems and represented the first step toward a national administrative system. Dr. Huyette traces the Council's antecedents as well as the changes in its membership, procedures, and responsibilities and the concomitant changes in the political elite and its style of leadership.

Dr. Summer Scott Huyette received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1984. She has lived for the past ten years in Sa'udi Arabia.

A Study of the Council of Ministers

Summer Scott Huyette

First published 1985 by Westview Press, Inc.

Published 2019 by Routledge
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Copyright 1985 Taylor & Francis

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 84-52867
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-28325-4 (hbk)

In November 1974 my husband and I arrived in Riyadh to work for Citibank, just as the 1973 oil price increases were showing their first effects on the Sa'udi economy. My graduate studies had concentrated on Comparative Politics, the Soviet area and the developing nations of the Far East and South Asia but had somehow avoided the Middle East, so Sa'udi Arabia was literally a new and exciting horizon.

As the years rolled by I became proficient enough in the Arabic language to contemplate serious research and in 1981 decided to embark on my long-postponed dissertation for Columbia University. Although I could claim no expertise in the Middle East area I believed my years in the kingdom and access to primary sources of information warranted the effort, and Professor J.C. Hirewitz kindly took me under his wing and guided me through the labyrinth of Middle East studies, directing me to the important literature and the key issues.

In this book I have attempted to gather a wide range of data on the Sa'udi government which should enable Middle East scholars to bring Sa'udi Arabia into the framework of comparative analysis, avoiding in-depth comparisons with other countries in the region. I hope specialists in the area will welcome the study and overlook the lapses arising from my self-acquired knowledge of the Middle East.

Although I have not attempted to adhere to a strict system of transliteration, the translation of Arabic terms and transliteration of names generally follows the Transliteration System for Arabic Geographic Names, published by the United States Department of the Interior's Board on Geographic Names in March, 1957. I have used the apostrophe (') to indicate the letter 'ayn and a raised comma (') to distinguish the hamzah, while omitting other diacritical marks. For the names of public figures or well-known places regularly mentioned in the newspapers I have used the more common renditions. For example, Dr. Solaim, the Minister of Commerce, is referred to as Solaim, not Sawlaym or Sulaym, as this is the way his name appears in the EngUsh press.

Summer Scott Huyette

While the author accepts full responsibility for the content of this book, the successful completion of any major undertaking requires the cooperation and unselfish assistance of people who have expert knowledge of a subject or who control the access to vital information. It also demands the unflinching support and tolerance of one's family. The present author has enjoyed all these in abundance.

My first thanks go to my doctoral advisers: Professor J.C. Hurewitz, who inducted me into Middle East studies, helped to define the objectives and focus on the pertinent issues, and goaded me to refine my writing style and answer the salient questions; and Professor W. Howard Wriggins, who demanded conceptual clarity and a careful analysis of the data. Their expertise and ample experience directed my inquiry and polished its presentation, and without them the study could not have been completed in its present form. Thanks are due also to my Arabic teacher and dear friend, Elias Daher, who enabled me to read and translate documents and conduct discussions in Arabic.

I am deeply grateful to the ministers and senior officials of the Sa'udi government who granted me interviews, giving freely of their time and providing access to important documents. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Ghazi al-Go saibi, Hisham Nazer and Dr. Soliman Solaim, whose academic backgrounds in political science combined with on-the-job training contributed special insights to the work; Zaki Yamani, who shared his twenty-four years of service on the Council of Ministers; Dr. Motleb al-Nafissah, who helped me to understand the Hanbali school of legal interpretation and the work of the Bureau of Experts; and Turki al-Sudairy and 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sadhan, who explained the development of the civil service and changes in the government's personnel procedures. My heartfelt thanks go to them and to Dr. Muhammad al-Tawail, Director-General of the Institute of Public Administration, who provided me with a desk in the Institute's first-rate library and the kind assistance of the IPA staff. Most helpful were Mustafa al-Sadhan, Director of the IPA Libraries, Fahd al-Askar, Director of the Documentation Center, Sa'ud al-Hozaimy, Director of the Reference Section, and countless others too numerous to mention individually. Their support and enthusiasm for the project were as helpful as the data they shared.