Salman accession and MBS rise 2015-2017

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Transitional two-and-a-half-year period bridging Abdullah's cautious welfare-monarchy and the full MBS consolidation. Economic school: early-Salman security consolidation plus Vision announcement — orthodox fiscal adjustment to the 2014-2016 oil-price collapse (draw on ~$250bn of FX reserves, first sovereign USD Eurobond Oct 2016, austerity round of public-sector allowance cuts Sep 2016 later partially reversed Apr 2017), combined with the Apr 2016 unveiling of Vision 2030 and the Jun 2016 National Transformation Programme as a forward-looking diversification doctrine. Foreign policy pivot toward assertive security posture: Operation Decisive Storm launched Mar 26 2015 with MBS as Defence Minister; deepened Sunni-coalition framing against Iran. Political economy: replacement of Crown Prince Muqrin (Apr 2015) and later Mohammed bin Nayef (Jun 2017) completed succession-line concentration onto Salman's direct descendants. Left-right: absolute monarchy, conservative-nationalist on identity/security and early-reformist on economic diversification; cautious social reform (women in Shura Council 2013 already in place; no driving-ban lift yet). Popularity proxies (no elections): fiscal buffer drawn ~$250bn; sovereign borrowing re-initiated; protest incidence low; no survey data specifically segmented to this sub-era. Coherence: transitional — incoherent on some axes (Vision 2030 announced while Yemen war ramping defence spending) but unified under the emerging MBS chain of command.