The modern development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shows both considerable achievements in the economic and social spheres, and the emergence of new difficulties generated during the rapid process of modernization. Established at the beginning of the 20th century on the basis of a primitive Bedouin society, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was radically transformed by the end of the century, incorporating the traditional foundations of Arab-Islamic civilization, some of the fruits and achievements of modern Western culture. The new integrated state of Saudi society is very difficult, but its reliable (so far) staples are Islam and traditions in the spiritual sphere and the state in the public sphere. Keywords: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Aal Saud dynasty, state and development. The development experience of Saudi Arabia over the past decade has shown the importance of the state as the main subject of socio-economic development. It is obvious that in the kingdom it plays an important role in economic, social, political, as well as in cultural and spiritual life. But before considering the activities of the state in these areas, let's turn to the consideration of its nature. The Saudi state is foreign to the Western model of a modern state, despite the fact that they have a common goal: to provide conditions for the development of society in a market economy. The founder of Saudi Arabia, after the conquest and subjugation of various parts of Arabia in the 1900s and 1920s, took as a model for the new state the image of the Caliphate of the first "righteous" caliphs, the main principle of which was Sharia [Proshin, 1964]. At the same time, in the more backward province of Nejd, Ibn Saud laid the foundation for the formation of the state with the concept of the ummah (religious community), and in the more developed province of Hijaz - the concept of a secular centralized state with elements of representative power. The emergence of such a symbiosis of two heterogeneous princi ... Read more