Atlas / Comparisons / Neoliberalism vs Saudi Religious Monarchy
Neoliberalism and Saudi Religious Monarchy
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. No axis places them within three points of each other. They diverge by eight points or more on CU, AU, ID.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Mont Pèlerin, Chicago | Saudi Religious Monarchy | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +09 | +05 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +01 | +10 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −02 | +10 | 12 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +02 | +07 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −02 | +09 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −02 | −07 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · CU +01
Coded near neutral: the tradition is deliberately agnostic on social questions and its exponents divided sharply.
- ScholarshipHayek and Friedman opposed conscription and drug prohibition; other Mont Pèlerin members were social conservatives.
Saudi Religious Monarchy · CU +10
At the ceiling: religious authority over public conduct, with substantial relaxation since 2017.
- Documented act or statuteThe driving ban on women was lifted in 2018 and the religious police lost arrest powers in 2016.
- Documented act or statuteMale guardianship requirements were reduced from 2019 but not abolished.
Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · AU −02
Coded slightly negative: the doctrine constrains majorities through rules and independent bodies, which disperses rather than concentrates authority.
- ScholarshipCentral bank independence, fiscal rules and treaty commitments remove decisions from ordinary majority revision.
- ScholarshipThis is delegation, not concentration; the entry for technocratic centrism is coded positive on the same reasoning and separates the two.
Saudi Religious Monarchy · AU +10
No constitution other than scripture, no parties, no elected national body.
- Programme textThe 1992 Basic Law names the Quran and the Sunnah as the constitution.
- Documented act or statuteThe Consultative Council is appointed, not elected, and cannot legislate.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Neoliberalism
1947– · International
Market competition as the organising principle of policy, insulated from democratic interference by rules and independent institutions.
Saudi Religious Monarchy
1932– · Saudi Arabia
Dynastic rule legitimated by a strict religious establishment; no parties, no elections, no constitution other than scripture.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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