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List of contents
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
About the author
Mark C. Thompson is Senior Research Fellow at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. He is the author of Being Young Male and Saudi: Identity and Politics in a Globalized Kingdom (2019), Saudi Arabia and the Path to Political Change: National Dialogue and Civil Society (2014) and co-editor of Policy-Making in the GCC (2017) Governance and Domestic Policy-Making in Saudi Arabia (2022), and Saudi Youth: Policies and Processes (2024).
Summary
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.
Additional text
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.
