Asian Angle | Supporting women’s driving and bombing Yemen, what’s the next Saudi leader really like?
The kingdom’s newly promoted leader-in-waiting Mohammed bin Salman has a modern vision that includes film screenings and female drivers, but there are many economic and geopolitical hurdles in his way
Saudi King Salman’s promotion of his son, Mohammed bin Salman, as crown prince at the expense of his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, could prove to be a mixed blessing for a kingdom in transition that faces significant international challenges of its own making.
Prince Mohammed’s ascendancy was never in doubt. It was a question of when rather than if. Reportedly ill and clearly feeble in his public appearances, King Salman may have wanted to ensure sooner rather than later that his 31-year-old son, the former deputy crown prince, would be his successor.
In doing so, King Salman appears to be taking a gamble. Prince Mohammed is popular among Saudi youth who feel that his ascendancy puts in office a member of the ruling Al Saud family who, because of his age, is more attuned to their aspirations.
The prince has introduced entertainment, including music concerts, theatrical productions, film showings and comedy performances in a country where culture has been largely limited to religious and tribal expressions.
He has also signalled his support in principle for lifting the ban on women drivers and other rollbacks of austere public codes.
