The Kingdom: Saudi Arabia and the Challenge of the 21st Century

Since its launch in March 2006, SaudiDebate.com has established a formidable reputation as the only independent English-language website devoted to Saudi Arabia. It has quickly built a wide readership and gathered a remarkable group of regular contributors from across the Arab world, attracted by its non-partisan character and encouragement of free debate about Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab Middle East. The Kingdom brings together a fascinating selection of writing on contemporary Saudi Arabia by a diverse group of authors, and includes contributions by such established figures as Madawi Al-Rasheed, Khalid Al-Dakhil, Badriyyah Al-Bishr, Saad Sowayan and Mona Eltahawy.The chapters range widely in their subject matter, from reformism under King Abdullah to Saudi Arabia's role as a regional power broker, thereby revealing the great breadth of issues preoccupying Saudis and others as they seek to build a modern society without compromising their powerful attachment to the religious, cultural and historical traditions which are the bedrock of Saudi society. The book is divided into four sections, dealing respectively with Saudi domestic political issues, the Kingdom's role in region