How Much Change? The Saudi Arabia of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman

Since his father came to power in 2015, Muhammad bin Salman has been the driving force in Saudi Arabian politics. How much has the Crown Prince changed Saudi Arabia, and how much can he change it? F. Gregory Gause OOO is the John H. Lindsey \u2744 Chair, Professor of International Affairs and Head of the International Affairs Department at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/croft_spe/1004/thumbnail.jp

The International Politics of the Gulf

The international politics of the Gulf region are defined by the interplay of the local states and outside pow-ers—primarily, in recent decades, the United States. The local states do not simply deal with each other on the basis of balance-of-power concerns, although those concerns are certainly present. With Arab nationalist, Is-lamic, and ethnic identities transcending Gulf borders, domestic security and stability concerns are as im-portant in the foreign policies of the region’s states towards each other and outside powers. The Gulf’s strate-gic role as the source of 60 per cent of the world’s known petroleum reserves has given it enduring importance in global US strategy. Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Washington took an increasingly direct military and political role there, culminating with the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. However, the failure of the US to create a stable Iraqi regime and the still uncertain impact of the Arab uprisings highlight the local obstacles to outside power hegemony in the region, even if the would-be hegemon were the most powerful country in the world