Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- Since the independence of Saudi Arabia in 1932, it has been a monarchy regime ruled by principles of Wahhabism in an ethnocentric framework. In Saudi Arabia, regime exercises full control over all economic activities. Despite regime's attempts during the five-year development plans to get rid of the single-product economy, a high percentage of the economy in Saudi Arabia is oil-based. The Saudi regime makes attempts to replace the single-product exports with the economic diversification. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Economy and Planning is in charge of national planning. It is also responsible for designing the country's 5-year development plans, and control rules for 2025 long-term strategies or Vision-2025. In this document, material welfare, doubling of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and improvement in the quality of life together with preserving the cultural traditions of the country are mentioned as the goals of this outlook plan. Therefore, it appears that the Saudi regime will encounter a lot of challenges and uncertainties to achieve the goals it has outlined in Vision-2025.  
Food security
Earlier this year, Saudi state television aired a documentary, this is our country, on agricultural achievements of Saudi Arabia. The program noted the self-sufficiency in production of wheat, poultry as well as bountiful harvests of figs, grapes, and olive oil. However, contrary to regime propaganda, the fact is that the food security in Saudi Arabia has been unstable and fragile. Because only 2 % of land in Saudi Arabia is arable. Based on a food security plan and an 800 million Dollar fund, Saudi Arabia tries to respond to the existing challenges and purchase overseas agricultural lands and make investment in foreign projects. The Philippines, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Sudan and Cambodia are among the countries which Saudi Arabia has selected for making investments and purchase of agricultural land.
Labor market
According to official statistics released by Saudi Arabia, the labor market of this country in 2013 was comprised of five million people.
In Saudi Arabia, there are more than 12 million citizens, men and women who are more than 15 years old and are capable of working a job. However, more than half of them do not enter the job market at all, either because of being a woman, or because they do not find a suitable job and have no hope of finding a decent job.
Of five million employed people, about one million and seven hundred thousand are employed in regime agencies and the military. The other half are employed in the educational centers, and almost 300 thousand employees work in health sector. Nevertheless, the serious challenge occurs when the single-product economy is affected by dramatic decrease in oil price, and the country is faced with a budget deficit. A growing population, low oil prices and a difficult labor market, have created poor social conditions for the young population of Saudi Arabia over the last few years.
Women's rights
Discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia and not using their capabilities in the labor market may be one of the future challenges in Saudi Arabia.
Strict rules concerning the employment of women, women's sports, their right to travel and public participation, how to access higher educations as well as the ban on women's driving as the only country in the world which has such kind of rules, is only part of the challenges and crises facing the Saudi regime.
The rights of migrant workers
Saudi Arabia has a population of 30 million people, and more than 9 million migrant workers comprise a major part of the labor force in this country. This means that nearly one third of the population are non-native and foreign nationals. Survey Report of Human Rights Watch in 2015 suggests that the rights of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have been seriously violated. In fact Saudi Arabia has one of worst human right records in the world. The workers are mostly from Yemen, Ethiopia and Somalia. If Saudi Arabia continues this process and violates the rights of religious minority groups, discussed in the following lines, this can pose one of the biggest challenge for Saudi Arabia in the years to come.
The Right to Freedom of Expression, Association, Religion and Belief
To suppress civil and political rights associations, absence of political parties and not holding any elections, the lack of public participation in socio-political decision-makings, suppression of religious minorities, continuous protests of Shiites at eastern governorates given the high population of Shiites where petroleum-refining plants are constructed, in addition to growing discontent among the migrant workers could end in crisis and a state of political deadlock.
The legitimacy crisis
Wave of public protests in the region and uprisings in the Arabic countries are regarded as the new threats to Saudi Arabia. Domestically, Saudi Arabia is facing the above mentioned challenges, a kind of legitimacy crisis. Given that regional trends incline towards the development of democratic structures, the Saudi regime will face serious problems and risks. However, the Saudis still would like to base their traditional political structure on regulations of Wahhabism and the ruling power of House of Saud, and make use of the financial resources at their disposal to legitimatize their governance.
To achieve its development goals by 2025, the Saudi regime will face a complex situation in the coming years if it does not take the above mentioned factors into account. Social and political stability are the key factors of economic development. Politically stable environment will enable any country to fully focus on economic development. However, this situation is in stark contrast with the Saudi regime's Vision-2025 strategy and if the trend continues, an early failure awaits the new king. In fact, the retrogressive trend has just begun for the House of Saud, and this retrogressive condition started with crisis in Foreign policy of Saudi Arabia and its aggressive policy towards regional issues especially in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen and its convergence with the Israeli regime. Nevertheless, these factors will accelerate the collapse of the regime and massive public protests in the country.