Yes, (Saudi) Minister! A Life in Administration

Born into a leading merchant family in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, Dr Algosaibi not only experienced but, as a government minister, played a leading part in the Kingdom's rapid modernisation during the 1970s and 1980s. In this administrative autobiography, we are treated to the wit and wisdom of one of Saudi Arabia's leading technocrats who, as poet, writer, broadcaster, ambassador and minister once again, is also one of its most prominent intellectuals and gifted communicators. In recounting his career, he provides us with a series of profound and penetrating insights into the relationship between the political leadership, the executive and the administrative machine. Along the way we are given an insider's view of the personalities of successive monarchs, the whirlwind transformation of the Kingdom's infrastructure, the tensions between conservatives and modernisers, and Saudi Arabia's relations with its neighbours. In Dr Algosaibi's view of the human condition, we are all victims of administration from the day we are born, and inevitably grow up to be perpetrators of it too. Illustrating his story with vivid and occasionally hilarious incident, he reflects on what he calls his own aggressive style of administration in contrast to the defensive style, the pitfalls of popularity and media stardom, the requirements of education and development, the relative merits of state ownership and privatisation, the challenges of national healthcare, and the claims of family life.The book is packed with judicious tips for budding administrators and diplomats. All those interested in the workings of government in this most conservative of modern Islamic states will find in Dr Algosaibi's life in administration an essential and entertaining companion.