Joshua Craze and Mark Huband
Hurst & Company, London
2009
There is perhaps no combination less familiar to the West’s own current cultural experience than the combination of royalty, religion, and conservatism that shape the external image of Saudi Arabia. Joshua Craze and Mark Huband’s recent book entitled The Kingdom attempts to recast the subject of the politics and culture of Saudi Arabia under a new, less mystified light. Setting aims quite high, the two editors argue that the “discussion of Saudi Arabia is hampered by as many preconceptions and misconceptions”. To make matters worse the degree of privacy that dictates the country’s relationship to the rest of the world greatly affects the ability of Saudi leaders to explain their way of life.
In order to overcome these obstacles of limited intercultural communication, the two editors compiled a list of articles from the website called SaudiDebate.com. This website, launched in early 2006, had the aim of presenting different analyses on Saudi Arabia’s political and economic condition, as well as its place in the region – subjects that, because of the aforementioned conditions, are not usually heard of in the mainstream. According to the book’s comprehensive introduction, “the often narrow minded discussion of Saudi Arabia in much of the Western media has tended to foreclose the possibility of having many debates about the kingdom”, thus this book aims to provide a smorgasbord of perspectives on the country.
Divided into four main sections, the editors attempted to create the illusion of consistency between a multiplicity of entries in the website that inspired the book. The compilation manages to include articles that range from the transitional phases of Saudi society, to the regional position of the country. It is true that the editors managed to put together numerous articles addressing diverse topics concerning Saudi society.
Where, however, the editors did not succeed, was in presenting any type of cohesive argument about what the main stakes were in each polemic issue discussed. One can quickly gather that the reason for this failure is that in an attempt to cover every issue, the editors were unable to present to the audience with a clear understanding of which were the most important issues – that is, even the most recognizable debates were lost in a number of articles that addressed other questions.
Although this fault is somewhat excusable considering the aims of the editors, there is another fundamental problem with the book. There is a clear selection bias in terms of which articles were chosen and by what author. As a result, the aim of truly presenting the full spectrum of opinions with regards to Saudi society and politics is not truly met.
However, the book does provide certain advantages. For one, it addresses controversial issues in Saudi Arabia, such as the role of women and how the government should react to Islamist elements in the country and the region. Interestingly for example, one article addressing the progress women have made in pursuing certain rights is contextualized within greater trends of change in Saudi Arabia. The ability of the author to attribute the growth of reform minded individuals to greater socio-political events, such as the Gulf War and 9/11, is illustrative of the type of article that truly sheds light on the nature of the Saudi State. Analytical and objective, the article is cable of providing a coherent argument to a reader that is probably less aware of the norms that drive Saudi society.
However, this type of article was not the norm, and others provided more of a personal opinion on what should be done in Saudi Arabia. In other words, instead of writing objectively, there were articles that presented an agenda or lacked the necessary evidence to support their argument. Consequently, the overall calibre of research behind the book as a whole was limited.
One such example was that of an article that claimed a modern Koran was a necessary step for Arabs to forge the future. The main argument in this article was that Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, needed “a more dynamic and educated grasp of language in order to bring meaningful change and free them from received religions interpretations... Only when the Koran is rewritten in a modern Arabic that is fully understood by the masses, will society and faith flourish once more”. While the argument presented by Fawaz Turki does raise important questions about the power and influence of religion, and the dangers of fundamentalist interpretations, the solution he provides is unrealistic.
Not just for the Koran, but for any holy book to be rewritten or translated is a controversial and difficult task. That aside, it is highly unlikely that a translation into Modern Arabic would limit extreme interpretations. Even the writer himself notes that “A progressive Muslim would interpret his faith progressively, and a reactionary would interpret it in an intemperate narrow minded way”. As such, the argument is not only inconsistent, and unrealistic, but in terms of the light that it casts on Saudi Arabia itself is quite limited. Although this is not to say that the problems Saudi Arabia faces are not regional in scope, the place of this article in a book that aims to provide further insight into the intricacies of Saudi Arabia is questionable. The Kingdom thus, despite its aims and efforts, results in an unsatisfactory read for those looking for balanced, up-to-date, and coherent literature on Saudi Arabia.
