Saudi Founding Day: A strong Kingdom, a prosperous region 
Discussions about ‘benevolent policy’ often justify state behavior, whether bad or good, as ‘serving national interests.’ Yet a more fundamental question deserves attention: By what means was this or that state established, and what has been its net impact on the region’s people?
History demonstrates that state legitimacy derives not from founding narratives or past glory alone, but from sustained contributions to collective prosperity and human dignity. States built on genuine social compacts, where governance reflects popular consent and delivers tangible benefits, demonstrate remarkable resilience across generations.
Since its founding, Saudi Arabia has consistently positioned itself as an anchor of regional stability, recognizing that its own prosperity is inseparable from the peace and order of its neighborhood. This stands in stark contrast to actors whose strategy, unfortunately, relies on perpetuating chaos and fragmentation, whose perceived security paradoxically depends on their neighbors’ insecurity.
In this framework, Saudi Arabia’s Founding Day, celebrated on Feb. 22 each year, takes on profound significance. The date commemorates the establishment of the First Saudi State in 1727, by Imam Mohammed ibn Saud in Diriyah, which represented the emergence of a successful model capable of maintaining cohesion despite harsh circumstances.
The Kingdom’s evolution through three distinct phases reveals extraordinary resilience. The First Saudi State (1727-1818) established foundational principles and territorial unity. The Second Saudi State (1824-1891) demonstrated that the Saudi project reflected genuine social bonds rather than mere dynastic ambition. The modern Kingdom (1932-present), founded by King Abdulaziz, built upon these foundations while adapting to contemporary realities.
This pattern distinguishes Saudi Arabia from state-building projects that collapsed permanently when faced with comparable challenges. The Kingdom’s ability to survive and reconstitute itself across three centuries, enduring foreign interventions, internal challenges, and seismic shifts in the international system (such as the events of 1945 and 1991), reflects a legitimacy and social cohesion that transcend individual rulers.
Contemporary Saudi Arabia embodies a crucial principle: states with comprehensive national power naturally invest in regional stability. Vision 2030 explicitly positions Saudi prosperity as intertwined with regional development. Major infrastructure projects, investment initiatives, and diplomatic efforts increasingly reflect an understanding that durable influence flows from creating shared opportunities rather than exploiting divisions.
As Saudi Arabia enters its fourth century, these principles — forged through adversity, refined through experience — position the Kingdom as a potential architect of the stable, prosperous regional order that has eluded the Arab world in recent centuries.
In conclusion, three centuries of Saudi state-building reveal instructive patterns: legitimacy constructed through sustained contribution and popular consent rather than coercion; resilience rooted in social cohesion; and influence derived from shared prosperity rather than zero-sum competition.
This stands in marked contrast to actors whose very existence depends on perpetuating regional instability. The narrative of Saudi Arabia’s founding and its two subsequent restorations teaches profound lessons, chief among them the principle of perseverance: when circumstances become most challenging, enduring polities demonstrate their true character through determined adaptation and renewal.
• Nasser bin Hamed Al-Ahmad is a political researcher and writer with more than eight years’ experience in political media. He specializes in analyzing political trends in the MENA region and the US.
X: @nasseralahmad3
