Historia económica

Country Name: Saudi Arabia Society
Explain which social institutions are important in this society. Education Mindful of the need to ensure that the Kingdom's population should be equal to the challenges of the developmental process, the government has devoted vast resources to a program covering primary, secondary and higher levels of education, providing free education to all. Religion Thevast majority of the people of Saudi Arabia are Sunni Muslims. Islam is the established religion, and as such its institutions receive government support. According to that, religion plays a main role in the Saudi Arabian society. Some university- educated women wore the hijab(black face veil) when traveling to demonstrate the sincerity of their belief in following the precepts of Islam. Is itgenerally a complex, intermediate, or simple society? Intermediate. Although the government, since the fourth five-years plan released in 1985-1990 has increased the budget in transportation, communications and technological development giving more than the 50% of the GDP to these sectors. What kinds of social stratification are evident in this country? Is vertical or horizontal mobility possible? TheSaudi population is characterized by a high degree of cultural homogeneity and by an equally high degree of social stratification. Tribal affiliation constituted a major status category based on bloodline. At the top of the tribal status category were the qabila, families that could claim purity of descent from one of two eponymous Arab ancestors, Adnan or Qahtan. To some extent, tribal statuscould be correlated to occupation, yet manual labor in general, but particularly tanning hides and metal work, was considered demeaning for individuals of qabila status. Qabila families considered themselves distinct from and distinctly superior to khadira, nontribal families, who could not claim qabila descent. Khadira include most tradesmen, artisans, merchants, and scholars, and constituted thebulk of the urban productive population of pre-oil Arabia. An additional status category based on bloodline was that of ashraf, those who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad. The Horizontal Mobility is the easiest to find in the Saudi Arabia Society, in contrast with the vertical one, that is really hard. This is based upon Religion and status categories based on blood. There is also anadditional elite status category based on wealth and in power for those who were employed in the government bureaucracy.

Government
What form of government does this country have? Monarchy. FAHD bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud rules the country today, and the country's Basic Law stipulates that the throne shall remain in the hands of the aging sons and grandsons of the kingdom's founder. Does this countryhave a constitution? When was it established? Yes it does. Governed according to Shari'a (Islamic law); the Basic Law that articulates the government's rights and responsibilities was introduced in 1993 Describe the human rights record of your country? Saudi restrictions on access to the country, coupled with the lack of freedom of association and expression, made it extremely difficult to obtaindetailed information about human rights conditions, and there were no independent human rights organizations operating from inside the country either overtly or clandestinely. Besides, political parties and independent local media were not permitted, and even peaceful anti-government activities remained virtually unthinkable. Now a day, Saudi Arabia is suffering a period of change and transitionfrom the typical Muslims restrictions to a more open mind with a more “occidental” thinking.

Economy
What economic system does this country have? Mixed Economy. What is the GDP? 214,748 millions of dollars What is the GNP? 208,089 millions of dollars

Explain the reasons for the difference between the two in this country. The GDP is bigger than the GNP because of the external inversion in...