Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan 2020 are governmental initiatives to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and implement nationwide social changes. Media and scholarly attention often describe the success or failure of these ambitious visions. This book shifts the focus to instead examine and evaluate the actual processes of domestic policymaking and governance that are being mapped out to achieve them. The book is unique in its breadth, with case studies from across different sectors including labour markets, defence, health, youth, energy and the environment. Each analyses the challenges that the country’s leading institutions face in making, shaping and implementing the tailored policies that are being designed to change the country's future. In doing so, they reveal the factors that either currently facilitate or constrain effective and viable domestic policymaking and governance in the Kingdom. The study offers new and ground-breaking research based on the first-hand experiences of academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners who have privileged access to Saudi Arabia. At a time when analysis and reportage on Saudi Arabia usually highlights the ‘high politics’ of foreign policy, this book sheds light on the ‘low politics’ to show the extent to which Saudi policy, society, economics and culture is changing.
Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan 2020 are governmental initiatives to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and implement nationwide social changes. Media and scholarly attention often describe the success or failure of these ambitious visions. This book shifts the focus to instead examine and evaluate the actual processes of domestic policymaking and governance that are being mapped out to achieve them. The book is unique in its breadth, with case studies from across different sectors including labour markets, defence, health, youth, energy and the environment. Each analyses the challenges that the country’s leading institutions face in making, shaping and implementing the tailored policies that are being designed to change the country's future. In doing so, they reveal the factors that either currently facilitate or constrain effective and viable domestic policymaking and governance in the Kingdom. The study offers new and ground-breaking research based on the first-hand experiences of academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners who have privileged access to Saudi Arabia. At a time when analysis and reportage on Saudi Arabia usually highlights the ‘high politics’ of foreign policy, this book sheds light on the ‘low politics’ to show the extent to which Saudi policy, society, economics and culture is changing.
Abbreviations
Contributors
Introduction: “Setting the Scene: Domestic Policy Making and
Governance in Saudi Arabia”, Dr. Mark C. Thompson & Dr. Neil
Quilliam
PART 1: MAKING POLICY IN SAUDI ARABIA
Chapter 1: “How is evidence used for policymaking in Saudi Arabia?
Lessons from Harvard's engagements in human capital development and
labour policy”, Dr. Ammar Malik, Director of Evidence for Policy
Design Research, Harvard Kennedy School, Boston, USA
Chapter 2: “How Can Saudi Arabia Better Coordinate Divergent
Economic Reform Agendas?”Faris Al Sulayman & Dr. Makio Yamada, King
Faisal Center for Research & Islamic Studies, Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia
Chapter 3: “King-Makers or Knaves? The Role of Consultants
in Domestic Policy Making and Governance in Saudi Arabia”, David
Jones & Radhika Punshi, Founders, CEO and Managing Director at The
Talent Enterprise, Dubai, UAE
PART 2: PUTTING POLICIES INTO PRACTICE
Chapter 4: “Beyond the Glitter Factor: Building Defense Capacity in
Salman’s Saudi Arabia”, Professor David Des Roches, Near East South
Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University,
Washington DC, USA
Chapter 5: “Vocational Education and Training in Saudi Arabia: How
Decisions about TVET Can Help Align Education Policies with Young
People’s Aspirations”, Dr. Hanaa Almoaibed, University College
London, UK
Chapter 6: “In-depth analysis of obesity causes and proposed
innovative solutions”, Dr. Wareed Alenaini, University of
Westminster, London, UK
PART 3: GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES: MANAGING ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICIES
Chapter 7: “Energy Governance: is the new meeting the old in
Saudi Arabia's energy industries?”, Jessica Obeid, Energy
Consultant, Academy Associate Chatham House, London, UK
Chapter 8: “In Search of Legitimation: Environmental Policy making
in Saudi Arabia”, Tobias Zumbrägel, Friedrich-Alexander-University
of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Chapter 9: “Climate change governance in Saudi Arabia: integrity,
politics, challenges and opportunities”, Dr. Aisha Al Sarihi, King
Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia
Chapter 10: “Last Man Standing: Global Climate Action and Saudi
Reaction”, Dr. Jim Kran, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies
at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy
Bibliography
Index
An exhaustive study of domestic policymaking and governance in Saudi Arabia based on the first-hand experiences of academics, policymakers and practitioners
Mark C. Thompson is Senior Research Fellow and Head of
the Socioeconomic Program at King Faisal Center for Research and
Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) in Saudi Arabia. He was previously
Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at King Fahd University
of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He has published
Being Young Male and Saudi (2019) and Saudi Arabia and the Path to
Political Change (I.B.Tauris, 2014), and is the co-editor of
Policy-Making in the GCC (I.B.Tauris, 2017).
Neil Quilliam is Managing Director at Azure Strategy
Consulting in the UK and an associate fellow with the Middle East
and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, London, UK where he
headed the programme’s ‘Future Dynamics in the Gulf’ project. He
has served as senior MENA energy adviser at the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO), senior MENA analyst at Control Risks,
London, and senior programme officer at the United Nations
University, Jordan.
Mark Thompson and Neil Quilliam have put together a masterful
volume focused on some of the largest and most relevant issues
facing Saudi Arabia today. Ranging from coverage of the Kingdom’s
efforts at economic reform to defense capacity, educational reform,
and climate change, this timely collection features a number of
studies important for students and policymakers alike, as Saudi
Arabia emerges under Mohammed bin Salman as a distinct actor on the
international and regional scene.
*Courtney Freer, London School of Economics, UK*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
