Challenges For Saudi Arabia Amidst Protests In The Gulf – Analysis « Eurasia Review

Saudi Arabia’s concerns about regional stability and its domestic vulnerabilities have risen to the fore amidst protests in neighbouring Bahrain, Oman and Yemen as well as in its own Shia-populated and oil-rich Eastern Province. With protests spreading from North Africa to the Gulf, Saudi Arabia announced a financial aid package of about US$ 36 billion for its citizens, promising more jobs, pay hikes, scholarship for students, and so on. Sensing trouble in its Eastern Province, the government banned all protests in the Kingdom. With the situation deteriorating further in the neighbourhood, King Abdullah addressed the nation and announced another multi-billion dollar package, which included creating 60,000 jobs in the security forces and 500,000 new homes, to appease his citizens.

Oil is the main strength of the Gulf economies and massive oil revenues have provided rulers with the resources to consolidate their regimes and to gain legitimacy from the people by distributing wealth. Thus, the uninterrupted production and supply of oil has a domestic political connotation too, as it serves as the lifeline for these rulers. In the event of oil production and supply getting disrupted, it will not only affect the national economy, but also undermine regime stability. This is another reason why Saudi royals are concerned about the spread of popular protests in the Eastern Province as well as in the Gulf region.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s principal domestic challenge is discontent in its Eastern Province among the Shias, who constitute around 15 per cent of the total population. The majority of the Kingdom’s oil fields are located in this province. Thus, any protests or instability there may disrupt the production and supply of oil. Small scale protests were reported in the Shia-dominated areas of Hufuf, Awwamiya and Qatif, where protesters demanded the release of the arrested Shiite cleric Tawfiq Al Amir. On several occasions in the past, the Shias of the Eastern Province have protested against political and economic inequality; in particular, they have raised the issue of members of their community not being appointed to the top ranks of the military, police, bureaucracy and the Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura), as well as about not economically benefiting from the country’s huge oil wealth. Shias also oppose religious discrimination as practiced by the Saudi ruling family, which follows the Sunni Wahhabi puritanical version of Islam with its disdain for Shias. For decades, Shias have been forbidden from performing their religious practices, publishing their religious materials and publicly celebrating their religious functions in the Kingdom.