{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.019494584837545126, 'fraction_numerical': 0.002888086642599278, 'mean_word_length': 5.537735849056604, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Policing in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia: understanding the role of sectarian history and politics

This article examines the historical and political legacy of police–Shi'a relations in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Shi'a form a significant minority population in the Kingdom. The group is oppressed socially, politically and economically by the Sunni, Wahhabi ruling class of the Kingdom, and this has shaped Saudi Arabian police strategies and tactics. Shi'a are nearly unrepresented among the leadership, rank and file of the national police, which have investigated many serious crimes allegedly attributed to members of this population, including numerous terrorist attacks since the 1990s. Using a variety of sources, as well as media accounts, this article is a case study, arguing from a critical perspective that understanding Sunni–Shi'a sectarian politics is fundamental to ascertaining the nature of the relationship between the public and the police in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. This article emphasises that cultural notions of order and order maintenance, which involve Shi'a social exclusion, significantly factor into how the Saudi police are deployed. Further, understanding policing in persistent authoritarian contexts such as Saudi Arabia is important for grasping the full landscape of policing as it operates worldwide.