Saudi Arabian oil does not inoculate the country from discontent. Some estimates of unemployment go as high as 25 percent. Most of the labor force is non-national, as many Saudis consider menial work below them. Many educated Saudis studying abroad stay away as long as possible, knowing that domestic job opportunities are slim. The nation’s high per capita GDP, around $24,000, depends on the government sustaining the welfare state in the face of a growing population. The reforms instituted by King Abdullah, including greater political speech and increased education of all citizens, might just be Egypt revisited: education without opportunity and governance without participation potentially leading to social instability.
Arab Awakening, as some are calling the protest movements, might spread to a major producer like Saudi Arabia. Populations fed up with the lack of true political and economic reforms are less likely to be appeased as time goes on. Even if Saudi Arabia remains quiet over the next few months, the potential for an uprising that challenges the royalty’s absolute power will not diminish, and is likely to increase with a declining welfare state and increasingly educated population. What happens then, and what any outside power could even do about it, could be much scarier to U.S. and Western interests than the events thus far.
For more: Oil States on the Brink? | International Affairs Review
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