SAUDI ARABIA: RELIGIOUS REFORM AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR MODERNIZING SOCIETY (International Affairs 9-10/2023 №101 102)

Abstract:

The article discusses the most acute challenge faced by Saudi Arabia today - the need to reform religion, which rightfully forms the core of Saudi statehood and society. The author raises the research problem as follows: whether religious reforms will lead to the liberalization and democratization of Saudi society and whether they will solve the fundamental problems of modernization of the Kingdom, as qualitative changes in this sphere can be destructive for the political system of the state.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, state of moderate Islam, religious reforms, societal changes, modernization of society.