In the seven months since arriving on the throne, new Saudi King Salman has brought fundamental changes to the Saudi power line-up and to succession politics. Beneath the surface of the royal shake up, however, Saudi Arabia is also having to contend with trends in the global oil market that pose more challenges to its internal health and global influence than at previous times in the Kingdom’s history.
On the political side, King Salman quickly moved aside 69-year-old Crown Prince Muqrin, putting in his place the country’s highly regarded Interior Minister, 56-year-old Mohammed bin Nayef, and installing his own young son, 30-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, as Deputy Crown Prince. These moves for the first time put the royal family’s third generation in line for the throne – both new office holders are grandsons of the Kingdom’s founder. Most striking has been the enormous power the King concentrated in the hands of the young and relatively inexperienced Deputy Crown Prince, putting him in charge of the Defense Ministry, the Royal Court (providing access to the King), and a new coordinating committee with sway over the oil industry and the economy.
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