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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 Out of conviction and necessity the Sauds decided that the system inherited from the past eras out of date and that a change to modern policies was necessary.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.

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.

This thesis is devoted to examining the legal framework for, and efficacy of, the implementation of the Basel III framework that governs capital, liquidity and market disclosure standards. It is set against the backdrop of the 2007 to 2008 financial crisis and attempts to unpack the myriad challenges associated with current efforts to harmonise international risk regulation standards in the context of legal diversity. These challenges are sharply illustrated in the context of Saudi Arabia's Islamic legal system and its uneasy relationship with the government's ongoing attempts to subject Saudi banks to the Basel III authored market and risk regulation disciplines. Paralleling the growth of Islamic (equity driven) finance markets worldwide, Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia now compete in the global market for conventional (debt centred) banking products. The growth of, and demand for, conventional financial services in Saudi Arabia highlights the duality of the Saudi legal system and its banking sector, despite apparent divergences between conventional and Islamic finance models, legally and normatively. These divergences manifest themselves, both in the differential treatment of Islamic and conventional banking customs and norms in the context of the overall Saudi legal system, and in respect of the general suitability of the conventional basis of the Basel regulatory model as applied to Islamic finance contexts and instruments. The thesis will challenge the convention that Islamic financial practices are self-evidently less risk averse, or more ethical, than their conventional alternatives. In a second step, this thesis will consider whether the national implementation of Basel III standards provides Saudi banks with sufficient protection against future threats to the stability of the country's Saudi market-economy in periods of economic volatility. These aims will be synthesised to provide an overarching analysis of the 'gaps' in Saudi banking institutions and applicable law. Comparing the Saudi banking regime with the dual banking sector in Malaysia, this thesis will conclude with a defence of strengthened corporate governance regulation, transparency and 'rule of law' reforms in Saudi Arabia's legal system. These recommendations should be further accompanied by concrete efforts to formulate, and, more effectively, reconcile, local and Islamic disclosure and accountability related standards with Basel III-approved technical measures on risk-mitigation and measurement.

This thesis examines a selection of work by the Saudi female artist Safeya Binzagr (b.1940) from the years 1968 to 2000. It is argued that in order to claim agency for Saudi women and fight negative stereotypes Binzagr focused in her work on highlighting their authoritative traditional roles in the pre-oil society. Binzagr changed their status in the cultural discourse by producing images that compensate for the lack of visual representations of Saudi women, and also she perpetuated the influence of these images by placing them in a museum that functions as an education centre. The thesis examines how space segregation and the conservative nature of Saudi society neither limited the artist's sense of control, nor forced her to overtly conflict with its norms. The first and second chapters highlight the cultural significance of Saudi society during the period in question and how it shaped Binzagr's work and career plans. The third chapter analyses Binzagr's representations of domestic life in old Jeddah, and how in her work she gave women an authoritative position over men. The fourth and fifth chapters examine the socio-religious boundaries of image making and explore how Binzagr's style and subject matter helped her breach this prohibition. Moreover, they demonstrate how Binzagr's sense of authority over her cultural heritage drove her to intervene and amend images of Saudi women in Orientalist photography. The sixth chapter highlights the artist's relationship to the ‘home'. It examines how family, ethnicity and class were used strategically to expand her audience group leading her to establish the first and only art museum in Saudi Arabia. Finally, the thesis concludes with a re-ordering of the crucial stages that shaped her career and style, and suggests that as an important part of , Saudi heritage religious based debates for Binzagr were an influential tool for negotiation.

Within the context of a wide and structural transformation of the educational system within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the issue of privatization remains a relatively new phenomenon. As it stands, the vast majority of higher education institutions continue to be run by the state. However, this situation has led to an increasing number of debates about the ability of the current higher education system to meet modern educational standards, and produce graduates that are able to compete and succeed in the present labour market. The quality output of higher education is a particularly pressing issue for the country, given that Saudi Arabia currently faces an ever-increasing problem of integrating a large youth segment of the population into the requirements of the modern labour market. Critics contend that, both in terms of their management and their governance, higher education in the Kingdom is outdated. Excessive government control is seen as a key factor that is inhibiting the current higher education institutions from having the autonomy and flexibility required in order for them to succeed. This thesis set out to examine and gain a better understanding of the management practices used within the University of Business and Technology (UBT) in Saudi Arabia. In order to do this, it focused on three core areas: approaches to management by senior management at UBT, the view and experience of the academic staff in how such approaches are applied, and UBT‟s relationship with the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the broader social environment that exists in the country.