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Globalization impacts In Saudi Arabia

Globalization is a process where economies, regions and cultures of the world

become interconnected and integrated into one global village with the connection of

communication, transportation, trade among other factors (Ramady, 13). Globalization

however does not bring positive effects only but negative effects have been

experienced as a result of the globalization of Saudi Arabia. This is in terms of culture

mostly. The positive effects have been experienced in relation to economy, education,

technology among other positive effects that will be discussed below.

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country that for a long time remained “chained” to

Islamic culture and traditions and hence was basically closed to globalization and the

outside world in general. The country has for a very long time resisted any changes in

its functioning and especially in relation to any global idea that might change its ultra-

traditional system. This has however been recently changing and Saudi Arabia is

emerging to be a big global competitor (Ramady, 21).

The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province in the 1930’s prompted

this inaccessible nation to open up to global markets for their huge oil reserves. With

the increase in the market of oil all over the world, changes had to take place in the

country that for a very long time had refused to be developed. Its leaders in

government started seeing the need to develop modern building and other architecture

to not only reflect their culture but also compete with the rest of the world. Modern

buildings for residential and commercial purposes like industries started coming up.

The new buildings construction also necessitated good transportation systems and
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hence roads, railways and finally airlines started to develop and have since been

flourishing.

These developments opened up the nation to foreign investors in different

sectors like insurance, trade, education and technology among other crucial areas of

the Saudi Arabian economy. International organizations like World Trade

Organization (WTO), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) among

other international organizations also moved into Saudi Arabia to ensure this nation

was in sync with the rest of the world (Ramady, 302).

Globalization effects have also been felt in the education sector. Initially, Saudi

had no good education system and syllabus and therefore after it started trading its oil

in the global market, Saudis were migrating to countries like United States in order to

seek basic but mostly higher education due to lack of competitive and quality

education in their country. This had the effect of bringing in US retailers in the country

and the leaders did not like this very much.

The Saudi universities were listed among the worst universities in the world and

hence their King opted to change that. It however had to start with the basic education

curriculum and moved upwards towards university level. With the help of other

nations, the King spend over $ 30 billion dollars in the education of the nation in

conjunction with foreigners and the country’s education system has greatly improved

and hence no much migration to foreign countries for university education.

Technologically, Saudi has outrun most Islamic countries and is now competing

with other European nations in technological manufacture and production and not
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relying much on importation. With development of transport system came about

development of communication system as well. Currently, the country manufactures

its own microchips and computers and exports them at a cheap price to mostly third

world countries. They have opened up their communication by development and

constant usage of email and internet to catch up with the rest of the world. This has

been possible through the ever increasing investors in that country and the dedication

of their leaders to better their nation.

All these global developments have increased the tourists in that region and

hence mixing their cultures and traditions. This is viewed as one of the negative effects

globalization has brought about by most Saudis. Westernization has increased in that

country and women who were previously not empowered are now empowered and this

is not good news to many Saudi men. This is because Saudi Arabia is a pure

patriarchal society and hence women empowerment and feminism movements are

threatening this patriarchy in the society.

Globalization has also brought about mixture of religion in this previously fully

Islamic nation. This is because of the increase in foreign investors and the

intermarriages between the Saudis and the investors. Many religious leaders have been

heard lamenting that their country’s morals are being decayed with the reduction in

Islamic identity and hence fear that this may bring about disobedience to their leaders

in the near future and hence starting war and other political clashes in this peaceful

nation (Ramady, 354).

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All in all, globalization has had more positive effects than the negative one and

this country is now among one of the richest in not only the Middle East but also in the

world. The Saudi prince has been rated as one of the richest people in the world with a

net of over $30 billion in assets.

Works Cited

Ramady, Mohamed. The Saudi Arabian Economy: Policies, Achievements, and

Challenges. New Jersey: Springer, 2010.