Ali Shihabi is a commentator on Middle Eastern politics and economics with a focus on Saudi Arabia and the author of The Saudi Kingdom: Between the Jihadi Hammer and the Iranian Anvil and the fiction work Arabian War Games. He is also widely published in publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Foreign Policy.
The Saudi Succession And The Sociocultural-Religious Reforms Of Mohammed Bin Salman


The immensity of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reforms in Saudi Arabia have not been adequately understood by outside observers. In a state three hundred years old with a bloody history of conflict in its royal successions, he has resolved a once-a-century royal generational succession and actively marginalized the reactionary clerical class that was effectively a comanager of society—all with limited violence or disruption to society.
Join the Conversation