Riyadh’s announcement last week that it will begin issuing drivers’ licenses to women, writes Andrew Bernard, is very much in tune with the kingdom’s larger plan for economic and social reform known as “Vision 2030.” But, he argues, the change that’s really needed in Saudi Arabia requires steps that the country’s rulers seem unwilling to take:
The driving ban is one of many examples where Saudi Arabia is going to have to carry out reforms that Saudis regard as radical but that are already taken for granted virtually everywhere else in the world. . . .
Vision 2030 can basically be summarized as “Be more like the United Arab Emirates.” . . . Unfortunately, it’s an example that Saudi Arabia will likely find impossible to emulate. One critical element of the UAE’s success, for example, has been in drawing 15 million tourists each year. . . . Leaving aside that alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia, leaving aside that men and women can’t bathe together in Saudi Arabia, leaving aside all of the other reasons why tourists would obviously prefer to go the UAE, or Jordan, or Israel among all of Saudi’s would-be tourism rivals—Saudi Arabia does not issue tourist visas. . . .
Saudi Arabia’s reticence to enact even basic social reforms calls into question the viability of the entire economic project. All of that is before considering those reforms that would also require real investment, like overhauling the kingdom’s abysmal education system.
Americans might balk at the notion that this is their concern. . . . But American support for the Saudi monarchy, repressive as it is, has always been predicated on the fact that Saudi Arabia without the monarchy would probably be even more religiously radical and dangerous to American interests.
Read more on American Interest: https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/09/27/saudi-women-drivers-seat-last/