David Kenner is exploring the economic changes underway in Saudi Arabia. He is focusing on how the new generation of Saudis is adapting to that change, and its members’ hopes for the years ahead. David has reported widely from across the Middle East for more than a decade. He was Foreign Policy‘s Middle East editor from 2013 until 2018, when he guided the magazine’s regional coverage while based in Egypt and Lebanon. A lifelong student of Arabic, David is a graduate of Georgetown University, and also attended the American University of Beirut. He is particularly interested in how American values and interests intersect with Middle Eastern politics.
Dispatches from David Kenner
Saudi Arabia’s hidden diversity
In Jeddah, a society with different cultural norms but many of the same economic challenges.
Saudi Arabia’s modernization gamble
Can the kingdom provide enough financial security to rewrite its basic social contract?
Landing in Riyadh
Encountering a sprawling metropolis full of empty spaces, speeding cars and hopes for socioeconomic change.