title: Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril
author: Paul Aarts
description: <br />"A lively narrative that conveys a wealth of information in an easily accessible way. Their chapters cover a spectrum of topics including oil, education, the demographic time-bomb...the 'digital explosion' of social media, and 'the two-edged sword of Islam' that permits troublesome clerics to criticise the regime in suitably veiled language." -- <em>Financial Times</em>
zlib_text: ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  * * *
  
  Saudi Arabia
  
  
  [PREFACE](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos25937)
  
  [GEOGRAPHY](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos28918)
  
  [ECONOMY](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos29532)
  
  [GOVERNMENT AND
  POLITICS](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos33032)
  
  [INTRODUCTION](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos35181)
  
  [THE SETTING OF SAUDI
  ARABIA](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos60148)
  
  [THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD,
  622-700](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos63629)
  
  [Saudi
  Arabia](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos71615)
  
  [FOREWORD](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos72062)
  
  [ACKNOWLEDGMENTS](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos73767)
  
  [PREFACE](Saudi%20Arabia%2c%20a%20country%20study_split_001.html#filepos