Gov 365N/MES 323K

Questions for Class 22: April 10, 2008

Discussing the monarchies, here is an interesting article about extending Saudi citizenship to certain categories of Saudi spouses and their offspring fathered by the Saudi. This in turn leads us into a video, My Child the Foreigner, but I can't upload it because it takes too much space, so here for any movie watchers is the great PBS Bush's War video that has been running recently.

1. What are some of the major similarities and differences between Saudi Arabia and Morocco with respect to population, dynastic history, social traditions, political elites, business elites, constitutional development, economic resources (oil vs phosphates!), and political and economic reform?
2. If the principal blockage to reform in Morocco is the business oligopoly, what seem to be the blockages in Saudi Arabia? Oil rents? Najd merchants? The royal family? “Wahhabism”?
3. Who wants reform in Saudi Arabia? Compare and contrast Saudi needs with those of the less wealthy MENA countries?
4. Compare and contrast the Saudi system with those of Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Why do you think Kuwait has a more developed parliament, periodic elections, and some ability of the elected deputies to block government initiatives?
5. Again, from last week, how do the constraints on information and freedom of association in monarchies compare with those exercised in bully or bunker regimes?
6. And with what impact upon the development of active local stock markets? (See your syllabus, with some graphs of relationships between wealth, economic reform, information, and stock market activity).