MBS Crown Prince era (de-facto rule)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Broad post-Ritz-Carlton consolidation under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, fusing Vision 2030 sovereign-directed modernisation with hard executive centralisation. Economic doctrine is state-capitalist diversification: PIF scaled from ~$150bn toward a $2tn target, giga-projects (NEOM announced Oct 2017, Qiddiya, Red Sea, Diriyah), Aramco partial IPO Dec 2019 and 2024 follow-on, fiscal-orthodoxy instruments (5% VAT Jan 2018 tripled to 15% Jul 2020, energy-subsidy reform), entertainment and tourism sector opening, and aggressive PIF-led FDI into global tech, sports and AI (Humain, LIV, Lucid). Politically the doctrine is conservative-nationalist monarchic modernisation — religious-establishment curtailment paired with expanded coercive capacity (Ritz-Carlton Nov 2017 detentions, women's rights activist arrests alongside the Jun 2018 driving-ban lift, Khashoggi killing Oct 2018). Foreign policy mixes security assertion (Yemen war from Mar 2015, Qatar blockade Jun 2017 through Jan 2021 Al-Ula reconciliation, OPEC+ Mar 2020 price war then disciplined Oct 2022 cut) with Great-Power balancing (Iran normalisation Mar 2023, refusal to sanction Russia, Saudi-Israel track alongside Abraham Accords). Left-right: absolute monarchy, framed as conservative-nationalist along identity/religious axes and reformist-modernising along economic/social axes. Popularity proxies (no elections): fiscal buffer used vs accumulated, PIF deployments, protest incidence (near-zero openly), Arab Barometer / Saudi Opinion survey approval (consistently 80%+ for MBS among Saudi nationals 2018-2023). Coherence: a single authority bundling fiscal, regulatory, foreign and coercive instruments under one vertical chain, accepting rule-of-law costs to accelerate structural diversification.