Background:
In 1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud captured Riyadh and
set out on a 30-year campaign to unify the Arabian Peninsula. In the
1930s, the discovery of oil transformed the country. Following
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia accepted the Kuwaiti
royal family and 400,000 refugees while allowing Western and Arab
troops to deploy on its soil for the liberation of Kuwait the
following year. A burgeoning population, aquifer depletion, and an
economy largely dependent on petroleum output and prices are all
major governmental concerns.