Power Sharing At Saudi Arabia

Political Life Assignment

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab state in Western

Asia by land area (approximately 2,150,000 km2 ), constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest geographically in the Arab world.

It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast,Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen in the south. I

t is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast, and most of its terrain consists of arid inhospitable desert or barren landforms.

King Saudi Arabia is a monarchy based on Islam. The government is headed by the King, who is

also the commander in chief of the military. The king combines legislative, executive, and

judicial functions and royal decrees form the basis of the country's legislation.

The king is also the prime minister, and presides over the Council of Ministers (Majlis al-Wuzarāʾ), which comprises the first and second deputy prime ministers and 23 ministers with portfolio and five ministers of state.

Cabinet The King appoints a Crown Prince to help him

with his duties. The Crown Prince is second in line to the

throne. The King governs with the help of the Council

of Ministers, also called the Cabinet. There are 22 government ministries that are

part of the Cabinet. Each ministry specializes in a different part of

the government, such as foreign affairs, education and finance.

Majlis Al-Shura And Governance The King is also advised by a legislative body

called the Consultative Council (Majlis Al-Shura). The Council proposes new laws and amends

existing ones. It consists of 150 members who are appointed by the King for four-year terms that can be renewed.

The country is divided into 13 provinces. A governor and deputy governor in each one. Each province has its own council that advises the

governor and deals with the development of the province.

Sharia’h Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state. Its judicial system is based on Islamic law

(Shari’ah). The King is at the top of the legal system. He acts as the final court of appeal and

can issue pardons. There are also courts in the Kingdom. The largest are the Shari’ah Courts, which

hear most cases in the Saudi legal system.

Legal System The primary source of law is the Islamic Sharia derived from

the teachings of the Qu'ran and the Sunnah (the traditions of the Prophet).

Saudi judges tend to follow the principles of the Hanbali school of jurisprudence (or fiqh) found in pre-modern texts and noted for its literalist interpretation of the Qu'ran and hadith.

 Because the judge is empowered to disregard previous judgments (either his own or of other judges) and may apply his personal interpretation of Sharia to any particular case, divergent judgements arise even in apparently identical cases, making predictability of legal interpretation difficult.

 The Sharia court system constitutes the basic judiciary of Saudi Arabia and its judges and lawyers form part of the ulema, the country's Islamic scholars.

Ulema The significance of the ulema (the body of Islamic

religious leaders and jurists) is derived from the central role of religion in Saudi society.

It has been said that Islam is more than a religion, it is a way of life in Saudi Arabia, and, as a result, the influence of the ulema is pervasive.

 Saudi Arabia is almost unique in giving the ulema a direct role in government, the only other example being Iran.

 Prior to 1971, a council of senior ulema advising the king was headed by the Grand Mufti and met informally.

In that year, the council was formalized in a Council of Senior Scholars, appointed by the king and with salaries paid by the government.

Military Saudi Arabia has the highest percentage of military

expenditure in the world, spending more than 10% of its GDP in its military.

The Saudi military consists of the Royal Saudi Land Forces, the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Royal Saudi Navy, the Royal Saudi Air Defense, the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG, an independent military force), and paramilitary forces, totaling nearly 200,000 active-duty personnel.

In 2005 the armed forces had the following personnel: the army, 75,000; the air force, 18,000; air defense, 16,000; the navy, 15,500 (including 3,000 marines); and the SANG had 75,000 active soldiers and 25,000 tribal levies. 

In addition, there is an Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah military intelligence service.

Regional Government The kingdom is divided into 13 regions , which in turn

are divided into numerous districts. Regional governors are appointed, usually from the royal

family, and preside over one or more municipal councils, half of whose members are appointed and half elected.

The governors are responsible for such functions as finance, health, education, agriculture, and municipalities.

The consultative principle operates at all levels of government, including the government of villages and tribes.

The governors act as regional "mini-kings", sitting in majlises, hearing grievances and settling disputes.

Municipal Elections Candidates tended to be local businessmen,

activists and professionals. Although political parties were not permitted, it was possible to identify candidates as having an Islamist orientation, a liberal agenda or reliant on tribal status.

The Islamist candidates tended to be backed by public figures and the religious establishment and won most of the seats in the Saudi cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, Tabuk and Taif.

Candidates with "Western sympathies or any suspicion of secularism" lost out heavily to "hardline conservatives who were endorsed by the local religious establishment.“

This demonstrated to some that rather than being a conservative force holding back the country, the royal family was more progressive than the Saudi population as a whole.

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