Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Major Professor
David Jacobson, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Jamie Sommer, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Vrinda Marwah, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Saeed Khan, J.D.
Keywords
Accountability, Democratic Legitimacy, Denizenship, Othering, Trust
Abstract
This dissertation addresses the global need to understand the evolving state-society relationship in a developmental state. The reforms in Saudi Arabia are widely gaining attention for abandoning the country’s longstanding illiberal practices. Yet, the state remains conventionally conservative in numerous ways for citizen and non-citizen populations. The dissertation employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and a set of conceptual frameworks to analyze what the reforms indicate about the concepts of democracy and citizenship. The dissertation is divided into three journal-style articles. The first article of the dissertation analyzes three reforms to find implicit or explicit evidence of rights and public interaction to make a case for democratic legitimacy in an authoritarian state. The second article is a cross-national quantitative study using panel data to analyze the correlation between electoral democracy and public trust in the government and situate the results in the case study of Saudi Arabia. The third paper is a qualitative interview study with the objective of comprehending the citizenry of the large non-citizen population; their perceptions of the changes in the country; and their modes of navigation. The growing literature on the reforms in Saudi Arabia follows suit with the previous literature written from macro-economic and political lenses owing to its status as an oil-exporting and Muslim-majority state. The findings of this work uniquely advance our understanding of the growing paradoxes of rights and public interaction in an authoritarian state and civic citizenry of non-national populations. This study will advance sociological analyses of a diverse population and shed light on new modes of participation in a nation’s development and the civic ties and lives of people, thus ultimately becoming grounds for impactful and representative policies. Hence, this research will advocate for a new perspective on viewing and enacting democracy and citizenship.
Scholar Commons Citation
Fatima, Shumaila, "Beyond Political Democracy and Plebiscitary Citizenship: Accounting for New Modes of Participation and Citizenry in Saudi Arabia" (2025). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/10948
