Zach AugensteinMr. FauverModern World History CP5 May 2014The Political Effects of Oil on the Government of Saudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a petrostate. It is a petrostate in the sense that the oil sector dominates the national economy and international exports. (Colgan 226) This is due to Saudi Arabia's only economy, oil. (Ali 100) Oil accounts for 70-80% of government revenue and about 95% of export revenue. Before the discovery of oil in the 1930s, the economy relied on Islamic pilgrims. Saudi Arabia, which contains the Grand Mosque Al-Masjid al-Haram, receives a large influx of believers every year for the Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam. During this time of year, income was earned from food and lodging sold to travelers. This was enough to support the state, but not enough to make it the money power it is today. What allowed Saudi Arabia to rise up the world economic ladder was oil. Oil has been a valuable industrial resource since the start of the First World War. Since then, demand for oil has become progressively higher among industrialized nations, allowing oil-rich states to receive large amounts of wealth. Among these oil-rich states is Saudi Arabia, the region with the highest oil production capacity in the entire Middle East. From its extraordinarily high oil production, Saudi Arabia has been able to gain significant amounts of wealth and political significance. Oil in Saudi Arabia has politically influenced the Saudi government in both foreign and domestic policy by providing economic power, ability to finance wars, ability to use economic diplomacy. From their vast oil reserves, the government of Saudi Arabia has been able to gain economic power in the form of pur...... middle of paper......Saudi is a petrostate. Oil dominates the national economy, international exports and national politics. It greatly shaped what the kingdom is today. After starting as a tourist economy, the kingdom has grown into a global monetary power. Thanks to enormous quantities of oil and extremely cheap production, the country has been able to gain large amounts of wealth and political power. With its great abundance of oil, the country has been able to profit enormously from sales and spur diplomatic outcomes to its advantage due to the great need for the resource. Without the discovery of oil, Saudi Arabia would have little importance in the modern world, all the more important is the Grand Mosque. But thanks to the discovery of oil, Saudi Arabia became of international importance, becoming one of the major resources for the world's superpowers..