While the “Arab Spring” hasn’t resulted in protests–let alone an insurrection–in Saudi Arabia, it’s no coincidence that King Abdullah has been especially empathetic these days to those who might look askance at autocracy, hard-line Wahhabism and corruption. Earlier this year, his government gave (virtually) everybody a pay raise (only 10 per cent of the workforce is in the private sector) and then threw in two months of extra salary for all state workers. It will spend more than $40 billion of its oil wealth on its poorer citizens, including funding for housing.
One country’s stimulus is another one’s bribe.
And now the 87-year-old King has upped the ante on the truly touchy subject of women’s rights. This just in: Saudi women will now be able to vote. But they still need male chaperones and male consent to marry. And, alas, they are still prohibited from driving.
It certainly puts voting rights in an ironic context: Saudi women still need men to drive and accompany them to the polls.
Arguably, the “Arab Spring” still beckons.