eBook

Desert kingdom : how oil and water forged modern Saudi Arabia

Jones, Toby Craig

2010,2011

Overview

Oil and water, and the science and technology used to harness them, have long been at the heart of political authority in Saudi Arabia. Oil's abundance, and the fantastic wealth it generated, has been a keystone in the political primacy of the kingdom's ruling family. The other bedrock element was water, whose importance was measured by its dearth. Over much of the twentieth century, it was through efforts to control and manage oil and water that the modern state of Saudi Arabia emerged. The central government's power over water, space, and people expanded steadily over time, enabled by increasing oil revenues. The operations of the Arabian American Oil Company proved critical to expansion and to achieving power over the environment. Political authority in Saudi Arabia took shape through global networks of oil, science, and expertise. And, where oil and water were central to the forging of Saudi authoritarianism, they were also instrumental in shaping politics on the ground. Nowhere was the impact more profound than in the oil-rich Eastern Province, where the politics of oil and water led to a yearning for national belonging and to calls for revolution. Saudi Arabia is traditionally viewed through the lenses of Islam, tribe, and the economics of oil. Desert Kingdom now provides an alternative history of environmental power and the making of the modern Saudi state. It demonstrates how vital the exploitation of nature and the roles of science and global experts were to the consolidation of political authority in the desert.

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Subject: 20th century / Central government / HISTORY / HISTORY / Middle East / General / Natural resources / Natural resources -- Government policy -- Saudi Arabia -- History -- 20th century / Oil companies / Oil resources / Petroleum industry and trade / Petroleum industry and trade -- Government policy -- Saudi Arabia -- History -- 20th century / Political authority / Political development / Political leaders / Political power / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Globalization / Saudi Arabia / Saudi Arabia -- Politics and government -- 20th century / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Regional Studies / State formation / Water / Water -- Government policy -- Saudi Arabia -- History -- 20th century / Water resources / Water resources development / Water resources development -- Government policy -- Saudi Arabia -- History -- 20th century
• ISBN: 9780674049857, 0674049853, 9780674059405, 0674059409