When development threatens royal legitimacy

In the last year, an increasing number of news reports suggested that Saudi Arabia is in a financial bind. Scholarships for foreign study have been cut and government handouts lowered. Increasingly, the Kingdom is looking to diversify its economy and modernise its business sector. But is real development possible within a Saudi political system in which the Royal Family’s legitimacy is largely rooted in maintaining the status quo? An examination of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a-majority Eastern Province provides some insight into that question.