A lot could be said here, whether to criticize or also praise Saudi Arabia.
Worthy note though, the Kingdom, more than ever, now seems to be running a huge conversion process on multiple aspects, economical adaption is just one of them.
Its leadership is definitely opening up their society by force, dare I say. A slow, but continuous process since the early days of ex-King Abdullah.
Keep in mind that people value prosperity and social justice the most, while participation in political life is secondary objective, if at all for the average folks over here.
(but that is changing too, simple living is no more and social inequality seems on the rise)
To the OP, comparing Syria to Saudi Arabia is like comparing Satan to Gabriel.
In short, the Assad regime is nothing but a group of devils that came straight out of the deepest level of hell to rule over Syria.
Calling a fake republic in this region a democracy is also a mistake. For example, a Syrian friend told me once how the voting 'cards' used to came pre-selecting Bashar as your vote.
I wonder why Saudi Arabia ended up the way it did though?
Shying behind the religion, trying to construe everything through it, conspiracy theories all along with nobody to stand up against them, and of course, tribalism.
There is a good reason why ex-King Abdullah has sent tens of thousands of Saudi students abroad, it wasn't just for better education but as well to enlighten their minds to the external world.