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Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

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Andrew Marr

Madawi al-Rasheed

Deirdre McCloskey

Ian Morris

William Patey

Katy Hickman

Start the Week: Reforming Saudi Arabia

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07/12/2015

Reforming Saudi Arabia

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Reforming Saudi Arabia

Andrew Marr with Madawi Al-Rasheed, Deirdre McCloskey, Ian Morris and William Patey.

Andrew Marr discusses Saudi Arabia with academic Madawi Al-Rasheed, economist Deirdre McCloskey, historian Ian Morris and former UK ambassador William Patey.

On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks at the fortunes of Saudi Arabia. The academic Madawi Al-Rasheed challenges pre-conceived ideas about divine politics and uncovers the religious leaders, intellectuals and activists who are looking at modernising the country. William Patey is the former UK ambassador in the region and argues that although the House of Saud is resilient, strains are starting to appear. The American economist Deirdre McCloskey sees fault lines elsewhere in the country's failure to promote and encourage innovation; she believes that although Saudi Arabia has capital accumulation and oil, without creativity and ideas it will not flourish. The historian Ian Morris takes the long view as he studies 20,000 years of international relations and argues that each age and region gets the great powers it needs, and what that means for Saudi Arabia. 
Producer: Katy Hickman.

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