Saudi Prince Discards Royal Balancing Act for One-Man Rule
- Crown Prince Mohammed has free hand in Saudi decision-making
- Investors looking for clarity on charges against businessmen
Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince hosted some of the world’s leading investors at the palatial Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh. Days later, he upended the country’s historical power structure by turning the property into a luxury prison for dozens of the kingdom’s most prominent princes and businessmen.
The detentions on grounds of corruption -- seen by some as a power grab by 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- have ended a system by which kings maintained stability in the world’s largest oil supplier by parceling out powers to different branches of the family. The jettisoning of limitations on the king’s power may free his successor to enact much-needed social and economic changes, but it also creates fertile ground for discord and leaves Saudi Arabia’s ruler without a system of constraints.