ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Saʿūd’s Other Campaign: Propaganda in the Making of the Modern Saudi State, 1918–1932

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on the propaganda campaign that advisors to ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Saʿūd (“Ibn Saud”) –– emir, later sultan, of Najd and, later again, king of Najd and Hijaz, and finally king of Saudi Arabia –– engaged in between 1918 and 1932. It argues that this prolonged campaign was as crucial to the establishment of the state as the sultan’s military conquest of the land. I term this a “campaign” because it was a connected attempt, having constant, clear messages emphasising ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s positive leadership qualities, his reformist, modernising intent, and a positive representation of Wahhabism. It also disparaged his enemies and emphasised the natural unity of his recently conquered land. The campaign was central to persuading regional and global powers of the viability of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s state-making project, and later, to gaining official diplomatic recognition of the Saudi state. The article studies this unfolding campaign through analysis of autobiographies, memoirs, travel and history books and articles written by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s advisors; critical engagement with recent ample information on these advisors found on Saudi websites and in Saudi history books and the press; and US diplomatic correspondence.