Saudi Arabia is one of the most important and least understood places on earth. The kingdom’s western province contains the heart of Islam, and it is the United States’ closest Arab ally and the largest producer of oil in the world. However, the country is undergoing rapid change: its aged leadership is ceding power to a new generation, and its society, dominated by young people, is restive. So far, the most dramatic changes wrought by Vision 2030 have been social, not economic—and surely not political. Culture, according to the Saudi 2030 vision, is indispensable to the quality of life, and thus the kingdom aims to increase both the quality and quantity of its cultural activities. The vision—framed by a paradigm shift in the country’s economic, social, and cultural landscape—has implications beyond Saudi Arabia itself, given the country’s position as leader of the Arab and Islamic world. Vision 2030 is aimed to reshape the social and cultural landscape in pursuit of a new era of inclusive opportunity & to change the fabric of the nation.
