The subject of Saudi theatre has not been very well investigated by scholars and researchers, and many agree that there is a lack of resources concerning theatre in Saudi Arabia. Although there are a few studies about Saudi theatre, more studies in the history of Saudi theatre as well as in different aspects of theatre in Saudi Arabia are needed in order to help readers to further understand this subject. Unfortunately, the international community of theatre has not been able to access information about theatre in Saudi Arabia owing to the absence of studies of Saudi theatre in different languages, especially in English; this lack plays a key role in preventing readers from understanding Saudi theatre. This thesis attempts to play a role in bridging this gap in the area of Saudi theatre. It presents, therefore, a historical study of Saudi theatre from the establishment of Saudi Arabia as a country in 1932 to the period in which the General Presidency for Youth Welfare (GPYW) was established as the first organization that was responsible for supervising and producing theatre in Saudi Arabia, 1974-2004. In particular, the main aim of this research is to study and examine the history of theatre in GPYW from its establishment in 1974 up to 2004 when the Saudi government decided to transfer the responsibility of cultural activities from different institutions, including the GPYW, to the Ministry of Culture and Information. This will offer an important picture of the history of Saudi theatre which previously has not been addressed by scholars and researchers. The thesis is divided into six chapters. Owing to the fact that Saudi Arabia is a part of the Arabic world and has some similarities with the other Arabic countries in terms of language, religion, history, and culture, the first chapter will attempt to familiarize readers with the history of theatre in the Arabic world by providing historical background of the Arabic theatre. The second chapter will offer an outline of the historical, religious and social context of Saudi Arabia. The third chapter will present a detailed picture of the beginning of theatre in Saudi Arabia and the theatrical activities that took place in Saudi Arabia from its establishment until 1974, the year in which the GPYW was established. The fourth chapter will be devoted to exploring and understanding the main tendencies of theatre that emerged in Saudi theatre and dominated the history of theatre in this establishment from 1974 until 2004. In addition, a summary of a play of each tendency will be presented. It is essential for readers to be aware of the nature of these tendencies as they move to explore the history of theatre in the GPYW through the next chapters. The fifth and sixth chapters will concentrate on the history of theatre in the two main parts of the GPYW that produced regular theatre; the General Administration for Cultural Activities and the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts. Finally, the thesis will conclude by summarizing its main points and ideas and will provide some recommendations that should help the readers, future researchers, and Saudi practitioners to further improve and develop the subject of theatre in Saudi Arabia.

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Prior to 1970 the Saudi Government faced severe socioeconomic problems two of which were: (1) the contribution of the private sector to the Gross Domestic Product was low, and (2) the oil revenues were the main source of the national income. As the oil revenues rapidly increased between 1972 and 1981, the government used every means at its disposal to encourage the private sector. The goal was to diversify the sources of national income in order to decrease the dependency on oil revenues as the main source of national income. To achieve this the government has provided interest-free loans to the private sector which, along with the demand, has increased the gross domestic fixed capital formation of the private sector. The purpose of this study was to theoretically explain the phenomenal expansion of the private sector. Three models were developed from the least to the most difficult. The main principle of the models is that the expansion of the private sector is stimulated because of the low cost of capital in Saudi Arabia. Since oil revenues (the main source of government expenditures) have decreased in recent years questions have been raised concerning the ability of the private sector to support the economy. It is argued that the demand of national and international markets will increase in the future, thus allowing the private sector to expand further. Even though the cost of capital will increase, Saudi companies will be able to compete either nationally or internationally. In addition, the competitiveness of the Saudi capital market may increase which will, in turn, benefit the Saudi economy.

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This thesis has explored the process that has transformed Saudi Arabia from a loose tribeal community into a centralized urban society. This process was accomplished under the traditional political leadership if the House of Saud, which imposed a framework for national integration by setting the limits on the boundaries of the nation. Out of conviction and necessity the Sauds decided that the system inherited from the past eras out of date and that a change to modern policies was necessary. Reforms were launched but within the existing framework of political and religious ligitamacy.In addition, the thesis has discussed the impact of petroleum development on all sectors of the Saudi society, as well as a general growth, on the evolution of development planning machinery, or. settlement of nomads, on improvement in the provision of social welfare and education. Despite the huge capital surplus from oil production, the thesis finds major problems which continue to confront the Saudi leadership-- traditional constraints and manpower constraints. The thesis' findings confirm that the social and institutional constraints inherited from the past are far more powerful limitations to modernization and development than has been generally realized.

This thesis investigates two of the most important themes concerning women’s problems that have been tackled by Saudi female novelists between 1958-2011 with special attention to the development of their thoughts about the issues from stage to stage. To investigate the two powers over women explored in Saudi women’s novels, the works have been divided into four separate and important stages and each stage has its own thematic and stylistic charactersics. The thesis consists of seven chapters starting with an Introduction, in which the importance of studying the subject is detailed; the theortical framework and the methodology of this study is also discussed. A section is devoted to reviewing previous studies of the Saudi novel in general, as well as studies published on the women’s novel. The status of women in Saudi society is discussed in Chapter Two which covers the structure of Saudi society, women’s education, women’s employment and the effects on the status of women in Saudi Arabia of the events of September 11th, 2001. The other four chapters are divided according to the stages of development of Saudi women’s novels. In each chapter, two novels are analysed: the first novel represents the first theme examined in the thesis, which is the authority of society over women. The second novel represents the second theme, which is the Saudi novelists’ vision regarding the relationships between the sexes in Saudi society. In addition, a section in each chapter is devoted to an examination of the characteristic of the themes in each stage by comparing and contrasting sample novels with the case study novels. The conclusion summarises the most important points of this research with reference to the findings of this study. It also suggests some further research in the field of Saudi literature.

Countries live in an age of interdependenoo. Although there are &>me studies conoorned with the U.S.-Saudi relationship, to my knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study that analyses the U.S.-Saudi relationship as it relates to the conoopts of interdependenoo to be written sinoo the Gulf war of 1991. This study particularly examines the level of interdependenoo between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia as it affects their relationship. The oil embargo of 1973 marked a turning point in Saudi Arabia's relations with the United States. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has emerged as the most important foreign &>urce of American petroleum requirements. The U.S. for its part has supported Saud Arabia with security assistanoo and anTIS while seeking in return to affect Saudi Arabia's oil production and prioo decisions. For both countries maintenanoo of the supply of oil and anTIS are of vital importance, but each oountry has different priorities. The different positions taken by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is affected by the fact that Saudi Arabia is the worlds' largest exporter of oil and that the U.S. is the world's largest oil consumer. The connection gave way to a more complex relationship of interdependenoo, involving shared as well as divergent interest and therefore, increased the potential for adversarial bargaining as well as agreement, antagonism as well as cooperation. The plan of this study is to explore whether the cooperation between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the fields of oil, politics, eoonomics and military developments has increased their interdependence. In addition, this study explores why the relationships between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia has moved over time from simple cooperation to oomplexity and how the two oountries have changed in their relative importanoo to each other and what has been the impact of changes in the international system, the Middle East, or within the U.S. and Saudi Arabia on U.S. - Saudi relations.