Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, commonly viewed by observers as an authoritarian state (IBP 2017). With severely limited civic space and freedom of expression, the country has witnessed escalating suppression of dissidents and severe human rights abuses (CIVICUS 2018; Freedom House 2019; Human Rights Watch 2019a). Although there have been high-profile measures to curb graft in recent years, many analysts view the anti-corruption drive headed by the crown prince as motivated primarily by a desire to consolidate political power (Kirkpatrick 2019).

While the effective implementation of anti-corruption efforts is largely at the discretion of the country’s rulers, corruption is viewed by observers as a significant issue in the country (Freedom House 2019; GAN Integrity 2019). Notably, almost total opacity in public accounting prevents ordinary Saudis from understanding how much of the state income generated by massive oil revenues ends up as private wealth for the royal family and its clients (Freedom House 2019; Hertog 2019).

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