Ideology and Religion: A Balancing Act

This chapter reviews MBS and MBZ’s carefully balanced stances on various ideologies and religious issues, including their general reluctance to subscribe to popular regional ideologies and their primarily counter-ideological viewpoints. Firstly, their relatively strong positions against Islamic extremism and political Islam are considered, including their overall efforts to push back against organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, and their attempts to marginalize local branches of the Muslim Brotherhood and its fellow travelers. However, it is also noted that in certain circumstances--especially in foreign conflicts such as Yemen and Libya--MBS and MBZ have proven willing to co-operate with, and in some cases even co-opt, such groups. Secondly, in the context of responding to perceived threats while also contributing to key economic and military objectives, their preference for promoting ‘state nationalism’ (as opposed to pan-Arab nationalism) is discussed, including their emphasis on building up more distinct Saudi and Emirati national identities, and their selective focus on western-friendly ‘liberal engineering’. Finally, their attempts to introduce secular liberal reforms and push for greater religious tolerance are studied, including their necessary curtailment of certain traditional practices, and (especially in Saudi Arabia) their strict supervision and in some cases repression of conservative religious establishments.