ABSTRACT
The crux of the problem lay in the two major handicaps, the lack of any organisational structure and the inability to manage and articulate the new ethos of modernisation. Civil service suffered a crucial shortage, both in quality and quantity. This chapter offers a brief overview of the modernisation process of the Saudi Bureaucracy. The administrative development effort evolved around the concept of nurturing a responsive Saudi Bureaucracy to social and economic reform needs. Early Saudi bureaucracy stressed the development of institutions of law and order. Only later were organisations beyond the realms of law and order institutionalised. The Saudi Bureaucracy manifested a serious need for reform. Ample evidence supported the contention that implementation of development projects was dependent upon the degree to which government agencies were capable of performing their tasks efficiently. The chapter describes the sequence of events and the results of King Faisal's efforts to modernise the Saudi Bureaucracy.
