Saudi Culture

Saudi Culture

            The birth place of Islam, the religion of Muslims and the abode of two holy shrines of Muslims, namely the Mecca and Medina is none other than Saudi Arabia.             The modern Saudi state was set up in the year 1932 by Abd Al-Aziz bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud (Ibn Saud) as a follow-up of three decade long campaign for unifying majority of the territories which were part of the Arabian Peninsula.  “A male descendent of Ibn Saud, his son Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz, rules the country today as required by the country's 1992 Basic Law (Global EDGE).” 

After Iraq, in the year 1990, invaded Kuwait, Saudi Arabia welcomed Kuwait’s royal family into its territory thereby allowing roughly 400, 000 immigrants into the land of Saudi Arabia and also paving way for the Western troops and the Arab to deploy within its territory which led to Kuwait attaining independence.  Till the year 2003 when all the US troops left the Saudi Arabian territory, immense amount of tension prevailed amid the royal family along with the general public, the presence of troops within the nation being the source of such tension.

King Abdullah has sustained the vigilant reform program which he started when he was prince of the country.  For promoting increased political involvement, the government held elections at a national level in 2005 for 50% of the total members out of the total 179 municipal committees that exist in the country.  Towards the end of 2005, King Abdullah concluded the above process by engaging the left over associates of the consultative municipal councils.  The king also established an Inter-Faith Dialogue proposal in the year 2008 with an objective to inspire spiritual acceptance globally; in the month of February 2009, he restructured the cabinet, which resulted in increased number of moderates holding administrative and legal positions, and also employed the first female to the nation’s cabinet. 

Since the evolution of its contemporary history, Saudi Arabia has been one of Middle East’s open and liberal economies which has profited and comprehensively flourished from free trade and extensive movement of goods, services, funds, and human resources (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency).  Therefore, this particular region of the Middle East has played a very significant role in sustaining international efforts towards making the region a more globalized and closely knit world economy. 

Saudi Arabian Families

Due to the small population of ethnic Arabs in Saudi Arabia, extremist policies towards nationality and citizen rights have been created out of fear generated after the Gulf War.  Saudi Arabian culture is persistent and conformist due to the traditional beliefs and values of its peoples. These traditional values are engrained within the teachings of the Islamic religion. This lack of religious tolerance creates a barrier between Arabs and other ethnic groups. Furthermore, only Arabs are permitted to attain governmental posts, which are systematically denied to foreigners who are citizens of the nation. This segregation persists in relation to property and businesses, which heavily restricts foreign influence (Advameg Inc.,).

Saudi Arabian society comprises of five different levels which are essentially defined by affluence. The first and the top most level comprises of people belonging to the constitutional domain, with the leader called the Sheikh. Then is the ruling family who are relations who are children of prosperous traders of Saudi Arabia. The third level comprises of descendants of the Bedouins, or nomads of the desert, who got settled in Saudi Arabia at the time of the evolution of the oil industry. The fourth level of families comprises of Arabs from other surrounding countries, and lastly, the fifth level consists of immigrants. Each level of family preserves the strong connections, which preserves the social structure beside the state legislation limiting property ownership, schooling, healthcare, matrimonial, housing, as well as social rights (Advameg Inc.,). 

In the Arab world, one keen issue is that of family business. Since family businesses are private companies, they are not required to provide financial statements, alleviate investor concerns or abide by the governmental rules and regulations for their form of business. Nevertheless, in order to increase trade internationally, family-owned businesses must open their financial statements and capital to foreign companies and investors. With more children of family business owners retaining education degrees, the modernization of family-owned businesses in Saudi Arabia is inevitable (Euromoney). However, there have been many instances where family owned businesses were not very successful in their succession planning and hence not prospering. 

Arabic is the national and most commonly spoken language in Saudi Arabia and also most of immigrants of Saudi Arabia. “Classical Arabic ( fusha ) in its Koranic, high literary, and modern standard forms is used for prayers and religious rituals, poetry, lectures, speeches, broadcasts, written communications, and other formal purposes. Conversationally, people use colloquial Arabic (amiya) (Advameg Inc.,). There are many more sub-dialects and interior variants. English is the next popular second language. The population of Saudi Arabia is broadly a minority in the nation itself. The distress that has reaped from this damage of power and supremacy, aggregated by the unstable relationship of the country with the surrounding nations like Iraq, has resulted in radical policies and measures concerning the declaration of nationality and the privileges for the population of the country.

Etiquette and Food

Saudi Arabians, like all other Arab populations, have a varied set of personal boundaries when compared to Westerners. Usually, they sit, talk, and stand close to each other. It is general for people of the same sex to touch each other during their communications as an expression of their alliance, and men often shake hands upon welcome and exit. Communally, physical contact between members of the opposite sex is unacceptable. To the people of Saudi Arabia, respect, status, and esteem are principal concerns.

            The traditional staple foods of the entire including Saudi Arabia were dates; meat, cow's milk, and camel; along with dairy products like ghee, cheese, among others; bread and other pulses, and spices. A majority of aged people recollect meals of the ancient times as being extremely simple but sufficient, without wasting even a morsel of food (Advameg Inc.,). They frequently consumed at home and begun their day with a breakfast that included coffee and a handful of dates as soon as they complete their dawn prayer. “A meal of dates, milk and/or milk products, and bread was served at midmorning. The last and main meal often was taken before the sunset prayer and consisted of a hot grain-based dish, vegetables among sedentary people in oases, milk among the nomadic Bedouin, rarely some meat, and dates (Advameg Inc.,)”.

Meals, in this contemporary era, are consumed a little later, and the foodstuffs are more abundant and extravagant.  Unlike the ancient times, foods like dates, cereal-based foods, and milk products are less popular in the modern times. Rice has become universally accepted and consumed food, and chicken very usual. Arabic coffee which is lightly roasted without adding sugar but rather made a little spicy by adding cardamom is the national beverage of Saudi Arabia.  In addition to this, tea is also quite popular.

Image of Saudi Arabia

In a nutshell, the economy of Saudi Arabia and the various developments that had taken place post the advent of globalization are based upon the World-polity theory in relation to globalization.  As already discussed, any system according to the above theory aims for the creation of value by way of abdication of authority in a cooperative method and this is the kind of system that has evolved in the land of Saudi Arabia post globalization.  All the various developments in the variety of industrial sectors of Saudi Arabia that have been discussed above are undeniably a result of globalization.  There have been no instances of negative impact of globalization on the Saudi Arabian economy from the extensive research that has been carried out.   This success is obviously evident from the various developments in plethora of sectors of the Saudi Arabian economy which were presented already.  From the various points and discussions that have been presented above, it can be concluded that Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly emerging as a global leader and a major player in the Middle East.  The economic, social and political developments that have been taking place in the country since the year 1970 have been extremely remarkable and also been on par with international standards. 

Since the evolution of its contemporary history, Saudi Arabia has been one of Middle East’s open and liberal economies which has profited and comprehensively flourished from free trade and extensive movement of goods, services, funds and human resources^[1] (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency).  Therefore, this particular region of the Middle East has played a very significant role in sustaining international efforts towards making the region a more globalized and closely knit world economy. In addition, during this period Saudi Arabia has identified the significance of institution building in order to make sure that the country can

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[1] Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. "G20 Case Study: Saudi Arabia." 10 September 2003. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. 03 June 2010 <http://www.banxico.gob.mx/tipo/publicaciones/seminarios/XIII-Saudi%20Arabia.pdf>.

build up an economy which is based on well-built and well-established rudiments which can allow most advantageous participation in the global market arena and also simultaneously help the country confront the challenges of recession and fluctuations in the global economy (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency). If the economy of the country is noticed, apart from the banking sector and other economic sectors, the health sector plays an important role in the development phase of Saudi Arabia.  One more main sector that is vital in the nation is the healthcare. This particular industry draws the attention of huge number of investors irrespective of the rush that the country’s government hospitals face. 

Works Cited

Advameg Inc.,. Culture of Saudi Arabia. 2010. Advameg Inc.,. 07 December 2013 <http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Saudi-Arabia.html>.

—. Culture of Saudi Arabia. 2010. Advameg Inc.,. 07 December 2013 <http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Saudi-Arabia.html>.

Euromoney. "Arab family business on the brink of change." Euromoney 2007.

Global EDGE. Saudi Arabia: Introduction. 2010. global EDGE. 11 April 2011 <http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/saudi-arabia/>.

Prasad, Dr. Hari. Dealing with Cancer - more than just medicine DR. Keerti B. 29 November 2009.

Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. "G20 Case Study: Saudi Arabia." 10 September 2003. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. 07 December 2013 <http://www.banxico.gob.mx/tipo/publicaciones/seminarios/XIII-Saudi%20Arabia.pdf>.

—. "G20 Case Study: Saudi Arabia." 10 September 2003. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. 07 December 2013 <http://www.banxico.gob.mx/tipo/publicaciones/seminarios/XIII-Saudi%20Arabia.pdf>.

—. "G20 Case Study: Saudi Arabia." 10 September 2003. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. 11 April 2011 <http://www.banxico.gob.mx/tipo/publicaciones/seminarios/XIII-Saudi%20Arabia.pdf>.