https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/08/01/chinese-firms-are-growing-rapidly-in-the-global-south

https://archive.ph/Pa6N0

  • الأرض ستبقى عربية@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    1 month ago

    I would take a monarchy that gives me free stuff over whatever the US has. Got a Master's degree without a single dollar of debt. We never had feudalism, but we are still very tribal, though not as much as a hundred years ago.

      • الأرض ستبقى عربية@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        1 month ago

        No. Saudi Arabia was made up of an urban minority who lived in the cities or oases and are non-tribal, and a nomadic majority who were tribal. The tribal majority are loyal to their tribe chief, and as long as the tribe chief is loyal to the monarchy the entire tribe is loyal to the monarchy. The coup was lead by urban Hejazis who had their kingdom annexed in 1925.

        Since then the majority of people have settled in cities, but people still identify as whether they belong to a tribe or not. Tribalism isn't as strong as it used to be but still plays a societal and privilege role, the government actually had some success in weakening tribal allegiances since it does compete with Saudi nationalism.

        The non-tribal urban vs tribal [formerly] nomadic wedge is still a major divider in Saudi Arabia. The cultures, values and allegiances of the two populations often clash.