Saudi Arabia: Uncertainty follows after Al-Salman purge establishes a new model Saudi autocracy

Saudi Arabia is still struggling to digest the implications of the shock purge of the kingdom’s political and business elite ordered by an ever-more dominant Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) on 4-5 November. It is too soon to say whether these dramatic moves will turn out to be brave or reckless, but a number of long-held assumptions about political, economic and social stability have been demolished.