In this thoughtful interview with SUSRIS, Dr. Isobel Coleman, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow, characterizes King Abdullah as a ‘committed incrementalist.’ An accurate description based on his steady push of reforms that are meaningful but are not, as some critics point out, decisive. Why doesn’t the King just declare that it is legal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia? Well, because Saudi Arabia doesn’t work that way and the country has numerous and powerful interest groups other than the King. What is fascinating about so many of the King’s ‘incremental’ decisions is how, well, crafty they are. The requirement of a national identity card with a picture on it for all Saudis including women can be seen as a precursor to the eventual refinement of Saudi Arabia’s guardianship rules. Do you think naming 30 Saudi women to the Shura Council won’t change the tone and tenor of most of that body’s debates? Have you met some of these Saudi women? All of them are impressive; some of them qualify as forces of nature. Do you think sending over 70,000 Saudi students abroad to study in the United States – a quarter of whom are women – won’t impel change at home. If not, please note the Arab News article entitled, “Female Saudi students in US learn to drive to get around” also included in today’s SUSTG Review.
As Dr. Coleman writes on the Council of Foreign Relations Blog:
“Dr. Isobel Coleman, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow, gave last year’s commencement remarks at Effat University, an all-women’s institution in Jeddah. She told the Class of 2012, “You are graduating at a time of great change, and tremendous potential, particularly for women in this country. In many ways your generation will set the pace of change going forward. That pace of change has only quickened in your lifetime and will probably continue to accelerate.” Last week the changes she talked about were marked by the seating of 30 women in the previously all-male Shura, or Consultative Assembly, of Saudi Arabia, the appointed advisory body of 150 leaders from around the Kingdom.”
[Read the full item from CFR.org by clicking here]
