Why is Saudi Arabia not a democracy?

Answer 1

Saudi Arabia is a non democratic country in many ways:

1. The king rules over the country.

2. No elections are held in this country.

3. People don't have the right to vote.

4. Women don't have equal rights.

Answer 2

Saudi Arabia is an autocratic monarchy, with all ministries led by a single family (The Sauds) Political parties are banned, but all Wahabi Islamic adult men can stand for and vote in municipal elections.

Answer 3

Neither, it is an absolute monarchy, which makes it a kingdom. While some kingdoms are NOT dictatorships, like for instance, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries, these are all constitutional monarchies, which means that the king's power is limited by a constitution. In an absolute monarchy, the king has no limits on his power.

Answer 4

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, which is indistinguishable from a Dictatorship. Some will object that it is not a dictatorship since, colloquially, the term dictatorship has been used to refer primarily to states were a person who has no hereditary link to power governs in an authoritarian manner. However, the method of ruling in such a state and an absolute monarchy are identical. The only difference is that the method of choosing a successor in a monarchy is clear whereas it is much more confusing in a non-hereditary dictatorship.

Answer 5

This question can be read two different ways:

Why is Saudi Arabia not considered to be a democracy?
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. Voting only occurs for municipal offices. All state-level and national offices are directly appointed by the King of Saudi Arabia and his advisers (who are themselves appointed by the King). In order to be a democracy, you need elections for all or most principal offices of government; Saudi Arabia lacks this.

Why is the Saudi government not composed as a democracy?
The Sa'ud Tribe used to be the the absolute rulers of Nejd, the southeastern part of Saudi Arabia, which is primarily rural and populated by Nomadic Bedouins. In the 1920s, they waged a war to conquer the rest of the Arabian peninsula, especially the region of Hejaz. (They did not have the strength to overrun the Kingdoms of Yemen or Oman and the Gulf Emirates were under British Protection.) The Sa'ud were successful and proclaimed all of Arabia under their dominion, e.g. Saudi Arabia. They never saw fit to democratize, since they had absolute power and the petroleum revenues created enough wealth to sustain that power.

An additional fear in Saudi Arabia among Saudi leaders is that democratization would lead to a reactionary government that would be more theocratic than the current government.

Answer 6

No, we have a monarchy. At the moment, King Abdullah is the ruler of Saudi Arabia.

Answer 7

Neither. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy.

Answer 8

People do not vote for public officials in Saudi Arabia.

Answer 9

No. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, which is a type of dictatorship. The centralization of power in Saudi Arabia is the exact opposite of direct democracy.