Reforms of King Faisal and its Influence on Development of Saudi State in the Second Half of XX - Beginning XXI Century

The history of the modern Saudi state is less than a hundred years old, and since the middle of 20th century, we can observe the successive stages of the constant transformation of the change in the indigenous way of life of the kingdom in all spheres of society. Moreover, new round of reforms is gathering in momentum now in Saudi Arabia under the project «Vision 2030». In these conditions, it is important to turn to the historical background of fundamental reforms and changes in Saudi state of the mid-20th century to understand the directions of development. Thus, the present study aims to study the experience of carrying out large-scale reforms of one of the most progressive (As-Samak, 2014) Saudi King Faisal bin Abd Al Aziz ibn Saud, and to establish how his reforms affected the further development of the ideas of modernizing Saudi society in the heads of future monarchs. This research is based on an analysis of a wide range of literature, official documents, speeches of Saudi leaders and provides valuable statistics characterizing the results of the reforms. The results of this paper may provide a necessary foundation for building an efficient policy for successful socio-economic planning and development.