Description
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country of outstandingly vast natural resources and economic wealth. Simultaneously, it is a nation fighting the increasing pauperisation of broad strata of its society. This situation makes Saudi Arabia at once exceptional and paradigmatic among the Arab
countries of the Middle East. In the socio-economic climate of extreme wealth and poverty in striking distance, the booming trend of private charities, that engage to help the poor and needy, appears symptomatic of the paradox. This article illustrates today’s renaissance of giving in the Kingdom. It examines the development of the modern Saudi welfare state and argues that today’s
benevolent activism is driven to support those who – in a socio-political climate of privatisation and pauperisation – do not find adequate assistance and social services in the overburned welfare state.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.