Atlas / Organisations / Saudi Religious Monarchy
Saudi Religious Monarchy
1932– · Saudi Arabia · Traditionalist Monarchist · Held state power · coding confidence high
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
Dynastic rule legitimated by a strict religious establishment; no parties, no elections, no constitution other than scripture.
Economic model
State oil monopoly funding vast transfers, private commerce, migrant labour under sponsorship.
Organisation of powers
Absolute monarchy with an appointed consultative council; religious police historically enforcing conduct.
Reading note
Very close to the pre-1789 absolutist coordinate — a live reminder that the whole historical range remains occupied.
Check a claim about Saudi Religious Monarchy. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored +05
Coded mildly market: a state oil monopoly financing very large transfers alongside an otherwise private commercial economy.
- Documented act or statuteSaudi Aramco remains majority state-owned with a minority public listing since 2019.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored +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.
AU · Organisation of power · scored +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.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +07
Coded +7: unitary dynastic rule with regional governorships held by family members.
- Documented act or statuteProvincial governors are appointed from the ruling family.
ID · Rule of membership · scored +09
Coded +9: citizenship effectively closed, with a majority-foreign workforce under sponsorship.
- Documented act or statuteThe kafala sponsorship system tied migrant workers' legal status to employers; partial reform began in 2021.
CH · Method and tempo · scored −07
Coded strongly negative in doctrine, with rapid top-down change in practice since 2017.
- Documented act or statuteVision 2030 has changed social policy faster than any period in the state's history, by decree rather than by consent.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Absolute Monarchy3.0
- Metternichian Reaction4.8
- Hashemite Monarchy5.0
- Putinism5.1
- Central Asian Presidentialism5.3
- Gulf Rentier Modernism5.3
Countries
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Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.