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Saudi Purge Takes Kingdom Into Unpredictable New Era

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Saudi Purge Takes Kingdom Into Unpredictable New Era November 12, 2017 3 News & Analysis Saudi Arabia John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. This article was distributed by Reuters. Saudi purge takes kingdom into unpredictable new era he wave of arrests and So the decision to remove Whether this is a good thing ministerial changes Prince Miteb eliminated the last depends on point of view. Power- in Saudi Arabia remaining independent power sharing and clientelism have has fundamentally base within the royal family. underpinned the stability of the Big news. A Saudi man reads a newspaper in Riyadh, on November 5. transformed the For the first time, all three pow- Saudi state and are blamed for its (Reuters) structure of the state as er ministries — defence, interior inability to change and adapt. Tit has existed since the 1960s. and National Guard — are under Saudi Arabia’s high birth-rate Saudi Arabia has practised a the direct control of one branch of and declining infant mortality form of collective leadership since the royal family. have seen a surge in the popula- Riyadh pursues major the death of the founder King Personnel changes for lower- tion over the last four decades Abdulaziz Al Saud in 1953 and ranked cabinet positions, sub- with the result that most of the especially since the abdication of cabinet posts and provincial population is under 30 years old. anti-corruption drive his son King Saud bin Abdulaziz governors over the last three The biggest social and economic Al Saud in 1964. The crown has years have removed independent challenge for the kingdom is find- descended among the younger power brokers and reinforced the ing enough well-paid jobs for the The Arab Weekly staff The investigation extended sons of Abdulaziz, with each son concentration of power. hundreds of thousands of young beyond Saudi Arabia’s borders, and his family tending to control Control over all elements of the Saudis entering the workforce with what appears to be Riyadh one element of the state. state has steadily consolidated each year. Unemployment and un- London requesting information from the Prince Saud bin Faisal bin Ab- power in the hands of King Sal- der-employment are widespread, United Arab Emirates. The UAE dulaziz Al Saud and then his son man and Crown Prince Moham- as is frustration with the fierce audi Arabia has launched Central Bank froze bank accounts controlled the foreign ministry med. system of social and religious a crackdown on corrup- belonging to 19 Saudis under in- for decades. Prince Sultan bin Saudi Arabia’s internal power controls introduced after the siege tion seeking to hold both vestigation, a Reuters report stat- Abdulaziz Al Saud controlled the dynamics are also changing in at the Grand Mosque in Mecca by average citizens and roy- ed. defence ministry; Prince Nayef other important ways. Islamist militants in 1979. alty accountable. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the interior The cardinal rule has always As part of his bid to consolidate SSaudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz channel reported that 11 princes, ministry and security forces. been that disputes are settled qui- power, Crown Prince Mohammed Al Saud issued a royal decree No- a dozen former ministers and four Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz etly within the royal family, with- has explicitly courted support vember 4 forming an anti-cor- current ministers had been de- Al Saud controlled the National out the involvement of outsiders. from younger Saudis with prom- ruption task force to be overseen tained in an anti-graft investiga- Guard, a well-armed militia Princes were expected to show ises of social liberalisation, jobs by Crown Prince Mohammed bin tion. recruited from the royal fam- loyalty to the king and avoid overt and faster change. Salman bin Abdulaziz. It has the The list of those arrested read ily’s traditional tribal support- calls for change in the system. In The anti-corruption campaign jurisdiction to “investigate, issue like a Who’s Who of Saudi pow- ers. Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz exchange, their personal security is likely to be very popular with arrest warrants, travel bans and erbrokers and included the head Al Saud served as governor of and wealth were respected. younger Saudis frustrated by freeze accounts and portfolios,” of the kingdom’s National Guard, Riyadh. Ostentatious displays of wealth stagnating economic opportuni- a statement carried by the official Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, who The system was intended to were discouraged and occasion- ties but it threatens much of the Saudi Press Agency said. was removed from his position the avoid the concentration of too ally censured but, for the most country’s business, political and Prominent members of Saudi same day of his detention; billion- much power in any one branch of part, princes have been free to social establishment. society, including members of the aire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the family and give all the sons of accumulate money and business In any political system, anti-cor- royal family, former ministers and who was held on money launder- the founding king a stake in it. interests. ruption campaigns are a powerful high-profile businessmen were ar- ing charges; and Economy Min- While formal power has always However, in a fundamental way to bid for popular support to rested on corruption charges. ister Adel Fakieh, who was also resided with the monarch, in breach with past practice, King settle intra-elite battles. In ancient The arrests came after a three- sacked on the day of his arrest. practice the king was expected to Salman and his son have launched Rome, rulers used corruption year investigation and more ar- “What happened is not the be- consult with other senior mem- an anti-corruption campaign and charges to eliminate enemies. rests were expected. ginning but the end of the first bers of the royal family and rule arrested ministers and officials England’s King Henry VIII used phase of our efforts to fight cor- by consensus. suspected of taking bribes and corruption charges against his ruption,” said Saud al-Mojeb, the The Saudi system of govern- embezzlement. powerful minister Cardinal Wol- Wide support for public prosecutor in charge of the ment has been more prime-minis- sey and the monasteries. anti-corruption investigation, in terial than presidential. Chinese President Xi Jinping government drive an interview with the pan-Arab In fact, the king has always been successfully used anti-corruption daily Asharq al-Awsat. concurrently the prime minister, to reshape China’s Communist The Arab Weekly staff “Anti-corruption laws are al- while the crown prince has served Party and US President Donald ready in place and the announce- as deputy prime minister and Trump is trying his own ver- London ment that those individuals were other senior princes have served sion with promises to “drain the held for questioning is the result as ministers in a formal cabinet. Corruption has swamp.” ince the announcement of an initial investigation by the The system, however, has been been rife in Saudi The concentration of so much of the crackdown on anti-corruption task force,” he fundamentally altered in many power in Saudi Arabia in one corruption, there were said, adding that it was necessary important ways since the death of Arabia for branch of the royal family intro- widespread expressions to complete the first phase dis- King Abdullah and the accession decades and has duces a new dynamic to the coun- of support for the Saudi creetly to preserve the integrity of of King Salman in 2015. King Ab- try’s government and heightens Sgovernment’s drive. the legal proceedings. drained fabulous dullah was predeceased by both risk, though it also makes bold On social media, where many Mojeb later stated that more his intended successors, Prince amounts of reforms more likely. of the identities of those under than $100 billion had been misap- Sultan and Prince Nayef, so the wealth from the Recent events have sidelined investigation were first revealed, propriated in recent decades and crown passed to Prince Salman. other branches of the family and Saudis voiced overwhelming that more than 200 individuals Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al state into private threatened their security, so the support for the move, with the had been questioned. Saud, an even younger son of King hands crown prince has made many hashtag “King fights corruption” Those under investigation will Abdulaziz, was designated crown enemies, though he may also have shared approximately 1.4 mil- have their assets frozen, with ef- prince and heir apparent but had reduced their power to challenge lion times on Twitter in the first forts made to return any ill-gotten little institutional power or influ- him. day, the BBC reported. funds to the state. ence within the royal family. Collective leadership has been Social media users compared There were fears in Saudi busi- Prince Muqrin was replaced a replaced by a much more personal the arrests to the 2011 “Arab ness circles that freezing accounts few months later by Mohammed form of rule, which also means spring”-inspired protests that tied to the investigation would bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, one of that the crown prince will be held swept the Middle East, launch- hurt the country’s economy; how- the sons of Prince Nayef, who had personally accountable for the ing the hashtag “November 4 ever Mojeb said that neither busi- inherited control of the Interior The progressive removal of government’s performance. Revolution,” which was for- ness transactions nor commercial Ministry and the security forces senior princes from government If the crown prince’s economic warded more than 62,000 times activities would be affected by the from his late father.
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