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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Saudi Arabia
Index
As one of world's last absolute monarchs, the Saudi Arabian
king exercised very broad powers. He was both head of state and
head of government. Ultimate authority in virtually every aspect
of government rested with the king. All legislation was enacted
either by royal decree or by ministerial decree, which had to be
sanctioned by the king. In his capacity as prime minister, the
king appointed all cabinet ministers, other senior government
officials, and the governors of the provinces. In his capacity as
commander in chief of the armed forces, the king appointed all
military officers above the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also
appointed all Saudi Arabia's ambassadors and other foreign
envoys. All foreign diplomats in the country were accredited to
the king. In addition, the king acted as the final court of
appeal and had the power of pardon.
The legitimacy of the king's rule was based on the twin
pillars of religion and the dynastic history of the Al Saud. The
family's most important early ancestor, Muhammad ibn Saud (1710-
65), had been a relatively minor local ruler in Najd before
establishing a political and family alliance with the puritanical
Muslim preacher and reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703-87)
in 1744. Muhammad ibn Saud and his descendants--the Al Saud--
ardently supported the preacher and his descendants--the Al ash
Shaykh--and were determined to introduce a purified Islam, which
opponents called
Wahhabism (see Glossary),
throughout Arabia.
Religious fervor facilitated the conquest of Najd and at the
height of their power in the early nineteenth century, the Al
Saud had extended their control over most of the Arabian
Peninsula
(see
The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam, 1500-1818
, ch. 1).
Subsequent conflict with the Ottoman Empire and dynastic
rivalries both diminished and enhanced the political fortunes of
the Al Saud throughout the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the
Saudi alliance with the Al ash Shaykh endured.
The founder of the modern state of Saudi Arabia, Abd al Aziz
ibn Abd ar Rahman Al Saud (1876-1953), was a grandson of the last
effective nineteenth-century Saudi ruler, Faisal ibn Turki (1810-
66). Abd al Aziz restored the family from virtual political
extinction by reintroducing the crusading zeal of Wahhabi Islam
(see
The Rise of Abd al Aziz, 1890-1926
, ch. 1). By 1924, when
the Ikhwan, a select force of beduin religious fighters created
by Abd al Aziz, conquered the Hijaz, almost all the territory of
the present-day Saudi state was under Abd al Aziz's authority. In
1932 he proclaimed this territory the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and
himself its king.
Abd al Aziz ruled until his death in 1953. Although he had
named his eldest son, Saud ibn Abd al Aziz Al Saud (1902-69),
crown prince, he had not instituted an mechanism for orderly
succession. Because Abd al Aziz was survived by more than thirty
sons, the lack of a process for passing on the mantle of kingship
constituted a source of potential political instability for the
country. Problems emerged soon after King Saud began his reign.
Like his father, Saud had more than thirty sons, and he was
ambitious to place them in positions of power and influence. The
new king's numerous brothers, who believed their nephews were too
young and inexperienced to head ministries and major government
departments, deeply resented their exclusion from power. The
political and personal tensions among the Al Saud, combined with
the extravagance and poor judgment of Saud, climaxed in a 1964
family coup. A number of brothers joined together to depose Saud
and install as king the next eldest brother, Faisal ibn Abd al
Aziz Al Saud (1904-75). The transfer of power was endorsed by
Saudi Arabia's ulama, or religious authorities.
King Faisal strengthened the powers of the monarchy during
his eleven-year reign. Although he had acted as prime minister
during most of Saud's rule, he issued a royal decree stipulating
that the king would serve both as head of state and as head of
government. Faisal also increased central control over the
provinces by making local officials responsible to the king,
creating a Ministry of Justice to regulate the autonomous
religious courts, and establishing a national development plan to
coordinate construction projects and social services throughout
the country. Faisal's concern for orderly government and durable
institutions extended to the monarchy. In 1965 he persuaded his
brothers to observe the principle of birth order among themselves
to regulate the succession, although the next eldest brother,
Muhammad (born 1910), voluntarily stepped down in favor of Khalid
(1912-82).
Faisal's rule ended abruptly in 1975 when he was assassinated
by one of his nephews. A meeting of senior Al Saud princes, the
sons and surviving brothers of Abd al Aziz, acclaimed Crown
Prince Khalid the new king. Because some of Khalid's brothers,
who would have been next in line of succession according to age,
renounced their right to the throne, the king and the princes
designated a younger brother, Fahd (born 1921), crown prince.
Fahd ascended to the throne in 1982 after Khalid suffered a fatal
heart attack. In consultation with his brothers, Fahd named Abd
Allah (born 1923) crown prince and Sultan (born 1927) third in
line of succession. The relatively smooth transitions following
the deaths of Faisal and Khalid thus seemed to have resolved the
issue of succession among the sons of Abd al Aziz. In 1992,
however, Fahd altered the procedure for designating future kings.
In the same royal decree that announced the impending appointment
of a majlis, Fahd declared that the king would henceforth name
and could remove the crown prince. Furthermore, the crown prince
would not automatically succeed on the death of the king, but
serve as provisional ruler until he, or a descendant of Abd al
Aziz deemed more suitable, was enthroned.
Fahd's decree on succession established two precedents: a
royal prerogative to choose and to withdraw approval for the
crown prince; and an acknowledgement that the more than sixty
grandsons of Abd al Aziz were legitimate claimants to the throne.
Previously, Saudi kings had not asserted the right to dismiss a
designated crown prince. By proclaiming such a right, Fahd
revived persistent rumors originating in the 1970s that he and
his half brother Abd Allah disagreed on many political issues. To
forestall speculation that his intent was to remove Abd Allah as
crown prince and replace him with his full brother Sultan, Fahd
reaffirmed Abd Allah's position. However, in declaring that
successor kings would be chosen from the most suitable of Abd al
Aziz's sons and grandsons, Fahd implied that Abd Allah or any
future crown prince was not necessarily the presumed heir to the
throne. The decision to include the grandsons in the selection
process and as potential candidates for the throne symbolized the
readiness of Fahd and his surviving brothers to pass substantive
decision-making responsibilities to a younger generation of the
Al Saud. However, this decision also introduced more uncertainty
into the succession process. At least a dozen men of this Al Saud
younger generation, including sons of Faisal, Fahd, Abd Allah,
and Sultan, were actively involved in the Saudi government and
presumably had a personal interest in the question of succession.
Data as of December 1992
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