RIYADH, 19 June — The Arabic version of a book on Saudi Arabia’s political progress with special emphasis on the Shoura Council will be published soon in Riyadh.
The introduction is written by Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation. The English edition of the book has already been published in Washington by the Center for Saudi Studies there.
South African leader Nelson Mandela in his foreword to the book argues that as the world shrinks with faster communications and easier travel, ideas and methods of cultural and political practice in one part of the globe become swiftly known in others.
Comparisons are drawn between countries where in earlier times, it might have been readily accepted that they were just different from one another and would develop along different trajectories. This has tended to narrow the view of democracy to the set of views and cultural assumptions that are prevalent in the West.
This is a pioneering and very frank work about the Islamic concept of Shoura or consultation on government and its application in Saudi Arabia.
It analyzes the Western interpretation of democracy as a concept and argues convincingly that there is an alternative interpretation, equally valid, that manifests itself through the consultative process of the local majlis and the Shoura Council.
Dr. Faisal ibn Mishaal ibn Saud, adviser at Prince Sultan’s office and supervisor of data and analysis who authored the book, is uniquely placed to comment on the process. The book is an extension of the research he conducted for his doctoral thesis in political science at Durham University in Britain.
The book is expected to attract the attention of academics and political scientists the world over.
The Arabic edition will be published by Maktaba Al-Obaikan.
