Study On The Political Modernization Of Saudi Arabia

Modernization is the process of human society’s transition from tradition to modernity.Its core is that human society gradually breaks away from dependence and moves towards freedom.The profound changes in the economic and social fields brought about by modernization stimulate people’s extensive political participation,thus promoting the process of political modernization.Political modernization is not only a major practical issue of common concern to all countries in the world today,but also the core of political development.The Middle East countries are post-modernized countries,they were deeply influenced by religion and foreign forces and experienced profound changes in the transition from tradition to modernity after the nineteenth century.When the political situation in the Middle East is turbulent and the contradictions are complex,which attracts the attention of the international community,Saudi Arabia,as a monarchy country founded on the basis of the Wahabi doctrine,known for its fundamentalism,has continuously coordinated the monarchy and religious power,realized the succession of the monarchy in a relatively stable situation,and promoted the country’s social,economic and political development.This special phenomenon has certain particularity in the history of the Middle East and even the world,so this is the reason why this paper chooses the topic.Many scholars believe that the key to Saudi Arabia’s successful political modernization lies in its rich oil resources,Islam and its special relationship with the United States.But in fact,this only constitutes the social motive force to promote the political reform and political modernization of the Saudi family.The success of Saudi Arabia’s political modernization lies more in the appropriate official political reform of its rulers,which corresponds to the political demands of the people,adopts effective strategies on the road of "westernization" and combines with the domestic political reality,choosing a road of political improvement that is consistent with the national conditions of Saudi Arabia.In the words of Macartney,Saudi Arabia is like an old ship sailing on the unpredictable sea.In the past 100 years,it has not capsized because it was lucky to meet generations of very cautious captains.The ship may sink at any time if it meets a fatuous captain.This is also the main innovation of this paper.Finally,while satisfying the remarkable achievements of Saudi Arabia’s political modernization,a series of challenges still needed to be considered.Saudi Arabia must strive to resolve these uncertainties in the future in order to maintain a steady process of political modernization for a long time.