BOOK PROJECT: THE REFORMER'S DILEMMA

My dissertation project marshals a host of in-country fieldwork and original quantitative data to both explain the motivations behind rulers’ pursuit of redistributive policy changes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to gauge the ability of these policy changes to ward off social mobilization from below. While my research offers insights into the dramatic policy announcements in Saudi Arabia over the past few years, I seek to place these latest claims to change within the historical context of rulers’ appeals to different social constituencies.