Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman, during a meeting with the U.S. secretary of state in Riyadh, Oct. 23, 2024. (Credit: Nathan Howard/AFP)
Ten years after the launch of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has undergone one of the most dramatic social transformations in the Middle East. But how deep do these changes really go? Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and a scholar of the Arabian Peninsula, discusses in L’Orient-Le Jour the evolution of Saudi society, the limits of economic diversification and the kingdom’s nationalist foreign policy. Saudi Arabia’s transformation over the past decade has often been described as a top-down revolution. We often point to women’s participation in public life and the workforce, entertainment, cinemas, concerts, tourism, and the curbing of the religious police… Which of these changes are irreversible, and which are more symbolic?I do not think these changes are symbolic. I think they are real. The aim was to...
Ten years after the launch of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has undergone one of the most dramatic social transformations in the Middle East. But how deep do these changes really go? Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and a scholar of the Arabian Peninsula, discusses in L’Orient-Le Jour the evolution of Saudi society, the limits of economic diversification and the kingdom’s nationalist foreign policy. Saudi Arabia’s transformation over the past decade has often been described as a top-down revolution. We often point to women’s participation in public life and the workforce, entertainment, cinemas, concerts, tourism, and the curbing of the religious police… Which of these changes are irreversible, and which are more symbolic?I do not think these changes are symbolic. I think they are real. The...
Humanitarian convoy reaches Rmeish, Ain Ibl, Dibil despite obstacles