Game of Thrones and Royal Decrees in Saudi Arabia

Ibn Saud or Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud founded the modern Saudi Arabia in 1932 after many trials and tribulations. According to tradition, after the death of a king in Saudi Arabia, he is succeeded by a crown prince. A new prince was then appointed from among Ibn Saud’s sons based on seniority. In addition, a Deputy Crown Prince lives in the second row of the power structure. However, this practice has been bypassed at times in determining succession to the Saudi throne.

In many cases, factors such as proximity, loyalty, inner circle and matrilineal influence have been given importance in determining succession. Recently, a royal decree has been issued by the Saudi king, indicating some changes in the power structure in this country, the heart of Islam and influential in the Middle East.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia issued a royal decree on August 4. The decree allows cabinet meetings to be convened in the absence of King Salman and his prime minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

As far as is known, such meetings will be chaired by the most senior member of the cabinet. Who would be a descendant of King Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of the Saudi state.

Those concerned feel that this royal order is a significant progress from a political point of view. This is because the posts of Deputy Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister have been vacant since 2017 when Mohammed bin Salman was nominated as Crown Prince and 5 years after that he was installed as Prime Minister. But administratively and politically these posts are very important.

But Saudi Arabia’s decision-making structure makes it difficult to ascertain who the third most powerful member of the royal family will be for the vacancy, or to even speculate about potential candidates.

The decision-making process within the Saudi kingdom has long been a complex issue. In 1964, the then King Saud was forced to abdicate due to a mutual agreement between the Saudi royal family and the religious elite. He was Abdul Aziz’s eldest son and heir to the throne.

The royal family resented him for his efforts to centralize power, mainly among his sons, uncontrolled state spending and risky foreign policy. In such a context, King Saud’s half-brother and Crown Prince Faisal was forced to form a family alliance to deal with the situation and oust him.

After the removal of King Saud, Faisal became the king. He instituted a new regime, in which power was distributed among Abdul Aziz’s various sons, especially those who had been partners in his coup. Of course, it was intended to prevent royal power from becoming concentrated in a subdivision of the royal family.

This parallel distribution of power gave rise to an institutionalized feudal culture. That is, the prince who is in charge of the government department or organization, he continues to consider that department or organization as a personal kingdom. He also used it to increase his political influence by building a network of patronage and his own supporters.

This gradually established a hierarchy of power within the Saudi royal family. A group of more than 30 half-brothers appeared outside the king and the prince. who began to think of themselves as future contenders for the Saudi throne based on their seniority, maternal lineage, and political importance in the institutions or organizations they controlled.

In such a context, Prince Fahad was appointed as the second Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1967, which was a significant development. According to the rules of the Saudi monarchy, the crown prince or prince is usually the first deputy prime minister. However, at that time a Deputy Crown Prince had no official position or formal entry into the hereditary monarchy.

But Prince Fahad was an exception in this regard. Because on the one hand he had the influence and status as the Minister of Interior, on the other hand he was the eldest of the 7 sons of Husa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, one of the wives of King Abdul Aziz. This paved the way for his succession to the throne. As a result, Fahd ascended the Saudi throne in 1982 after the death of his older half-brother and King Khalid.

This event facilitates the process of appointing a second deputy prime minister in succession. As a result, separate powerful groups were formed among the brothers from other sides, such as the seven sons of Sudairi’s house. Again separate clans emerged, supported by ruling kings and influential families, who established their own control over various areas of the monarchy.

In this regard, the case of Prince Abdullah is worth mentioning. He was appointed the second Deputy Prime Minister in 1975. This Abdullah was one of the allies of Prince Faisal’s coup against King Saud. He was in command of the National Guard of Saudi Arabia since 1962. He also had matriarchal ties with the powerful Shamar tribe. But in the past, this tribe was a political enemy of the Saudi royal family.

Abdullah ascended the Saudi throne in 2005 after the death of King Fahd. After 9 years, Abdullah appointed another half-brother Prince Muqrin as Deputy Crown Prince. Through this he introduced a new and formal system of royal succession. Like his predecessors, Muqrin held an influential position as Saudi intelligence chief. Although he was initially appointed because of his proximity to the king.

But after the death of Abdullah in 2015, the current King Salman ascended the Saudi throne. As a result, the competition between the various half-brothers and their respective allies, which had been going on for decades due to political positions, completely changed. That is, within two years of coming to power, Salman removed two crown princes and installed his own son Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, in that position.

During these years of intervention, King Salman and his son MBS were able to shake off the influence of influential princes and other political opponents through sweeping administrative changes and anti-corruption campaigns.

In this new system, the power of the Saudi dynasty became entirely the prerogative of the king and his son. This elevates the position of the Saudi king from parallel to ultimate imperium for the first time.

However, the recent decision to allow the eldest descendants of King Abdulaziz to preside over cabinet meetings; It gives a glimpse of the current royal hierarchy of power beyond the king and crown prince.

The two senior members of the royal family in the cabinet, namely Prince Mansour bin Miteb and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, another son of the current king, are much older than Crown Prince MBS. That means – the possibility of these two being future candidates for the post of Deputy Crown Prince is very slim.

So the real candidates for the position of Deputy Crown Prince are the remaining five young members of the royal family, who hold important government ministries. None of these, except Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, inherited the ministry directly or indirectly from their fathers. Prince Khalid is one of King Salman’s youngest sons.

It is understood, then, that the hierarchy of power within the royal family has changed. The personal relationship and proximity between certain individuals and the King and Crown Prince now determines their position within the state’s pecking order policy.