The article examines various changes that took place in the political life of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the first decade of the XXI century, reflecting the transition of society and the state from the traditional to the modern state. Key words: monarchy, modernization, conflicts. POWER AND VIOLENCE IN SAUDI ARABIA AND EVOLUTION OF THEIR AIMS AND METHODS IN THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY The paper examines the particularities of the changes in the political system of Saudi Arabia in the last years and the evolution of the Saudi Kingdom from traditional to modern state. Keywords: monarchy, modernization, conflicts. Completion of the socio-economic modernization process in Saudi Arabia by the end of the 20th century. It has exacerbated the problem of the correspondence of the political system and the norms of political life to the significantly changed state of society and the socio-economic conditions of its existence. Over the past decade and a half of the twenty-first century, the Arab world has undergone major political changes, both due to internal political processes and the impact of external factors. Major changes are also taking place in the global system. All this could not but affect the political culture and political life of Saudi society and the Saudi state, which is encouraged to respond to the challenges of the time and adapt to the conditions of the modern world. The modern Saudi state was created in the early 20th century. in the conditions and norms of a pre-modern society. Violence was a natural and rational tool of the Al-Saud family's power to form a centralized state in the early feudal society of Arabia (however, along with other tools - bribing the sheikhs of individual tribes or establishing matrimonial ties with them). At the same time, one should not exaggerate the significance of this instrument as a purely "Arabian"one. YAKOVLEV Alexander Ivanovich-Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor. Faculty of World Politics, Lomonos ... Read more