Political science

The Arabian Peninsula was under the influence of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 until its collapse in 1918. During this time, three attempts were made to establish a Saudi state, the last of which began in 1902 and ended with the unification of the third Saudi State in 1932. During this period, three Saudi States were formed. The first Saudi State was established in 1745 when the al-Diriyah Agreement was introduced. This landmark agreement was achieved when Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud formed an alliance with Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul Wahhab, a religious and rebellious man who advocated for the pure interpretation of Islamic principles. This alliance enabled Ibn Saud to govern the state, but he left the religious and cultural aspects of the society under the authority of Ibn Abdul Wahhab. As a result, throughout centuries, the religious establishment has greatly influenced the affairs of all three Saudi States. However, following the seizure of the Grand Mosque by religious zealots in 1979, Saudi Arabia underwent changes that radicalized the religious establishment, causing myriad detrimental effects for Saudi women. Oppressed by the weight of unfair laws and obstacles, Saudi women challenged the status quo and fought for equal rights through various methods. While King Abdullah al-Saud introduced some reforms, more significant change was still to come. After King Abdullah’s death, King Salman and his son Mohammed Bin Salman—the Crown Prince and Prime Minster—initiated a series of sweeping reforms under the Vision 2030 initiative to empower women, diversify the economy, and modernize the Kingdom of Saudi. Some key aspects of these reforms were abolishing the Male Guardianship System and removing the ban on women’s driving.

Human beings have two apparently conflicting fundamental rights. On the one hand, individuals have a right to health care as the United Nations declared in 1948. On the other hand, individuals have a right to liberty; that is, the freedom to make one's own health related choices, even poor ones. One goal of this essay is to show how to reconcile these two apparently conflicting core American values. This reconciliation is important, because a universal health care system that is fair and just must account for individual rights in tandem with attempts to address matters of social justice. In order for this reconciliation to occur, matters of individual responsibility, social responsibility, and social justice must be central to health care reform.