In the past decade, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has experienced extraordinary and unprecedented changes, belying the understanding of a society immersed in religious conservatism and an economy imbued in petroleum exports. At the forefront of this transformation are King Salman and heir apparent Mohammed bin Salman, who have worked to achieve the task of bringing a societal change to reduce the role of religion in public life, opening the public sphere for women, ending the control of ulema on the population and accelerating economic diversification. The changes required not only fundamental and structural reforms in how the society and the economy functioned, but also changing the global image of the kingdom.
Strategically, transforming Saudi Arabia was important given the kingdom’s centrality in the Arab and Islamic worlds and the international energy market. Anything happening inside Saudi Arabia is important not only for the Middle East but for the world at large. The challenge was to transform without exposing the Saudi vulnerability to security and strategic threats posed by rivals and armed non-state actors. The task was riskier given the international geopolitical shifts and the positioning of its key security and strategic partner, the United States. Nonetheless, the question in the minds of the kingdom’s leadership is not whether to bring about reforms but how to do it without exposing Saudi vulnerabilities.
