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The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia
In 2018, journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi regime operatives, shocking the international community and tarnishing the reputation of Muhammad bin Salman, the kingdom's young, reformist crown prince. Domestically, bin Salman's reforms have proven divisive, and his adoption of populist
nationalism and fierce repression of diverse critical voices--religious scholars, feminists and dissident youth--have failed to silence a vibrant and well-connected Saudi society.
Madawi Al-Rasheed lays bare the world of repression behind the crown prince's reforms. She dissects the Saudi regime's propaganda and progressive new image, while also dismissing Orientalist views that despotism is the only pathway to stable governance in the Middle East. Charting old and new
challenges to the fragile Saudi nation from the kingdom's very inception, this blistering book exposes the dangerous contradictions at the heart of the Son King's Saudi Arabia.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2021
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236 people want to read
About the author
Madawi AlRasheed مضاوي الرشيد
17 books154 followersMadawi Al-Rasheed is Visiting Professor at the Middle East Centre at LSE and Research Fellow at the Open Society Foundation. She was Professor of Anthropology of Religion at King’s College, London between 1994 and 2013. Previously, she was Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. She also taught at Goldsmith College (University of London) and the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 7, 2024
In this miserable region of the world, it seems that it is promised the “nothing” model that appears in the period of political vacuum and takes center stage, to tamper with the capabilities of its people, crush its identity, and give free rein to its henchmen to silence all who object to these shameful conditions. It is the Ataturk model that some Western analysts spoke about. They hope that the “king son” Mohammed bin Salman will follow suit and unleash authoritarian liberalism, as they believe that they will only crush the Arabs with authoritarian regimes. Madawi Al-Rasheed wrote this book to expose this new situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and although Madawi is a secularist known for her long-standing hostility to Wahhabism and the House of Saud, she criticizes this Saudi openness and does not welcome it, like every liberal with a shred of conscience who does not accept the spread of liberal knowledge under Whips, fear and intimidation, especially when they are empty liberalism, devoid of meaning.
From the moment the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, Madawi sets out to uncover the circumstances of the rising Saudi scene at the hands of Mohammed bin Salman, who paid millions of dollars to bribe politicians and journalists and fund some Western academies to appear as an open liberal. The scene of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder became shocking to everyone who saw in the man an advocate of liberalism. What is new in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques? However, these academics, media pundits, and policy makers saw that reforming the Saudi economy and society was necessarily a violent act that must be carried out by an authoritarian person. Khashoggi’s killing, according to Madawi, was merely the result of an aggressive, hyper-nationalist agenda, the purpose of which was to strengthen the power of the newly appointed prince who appeared to be... He did not enjoy consensus among his family, so he unleashed the hand of oppression and created a network of agents on Twitter whose goal was to collect data on opponents and report on them. He imprisoned many prisoners of conscience, and cases of forced disappearances, executions and beheadings appeared. According to Madawi, the Saudis began to flee from country in large numbers. He led a major campaign against Islamists, feminists, and opponents of the House of Saud themselves.
Madawi monitors the features of the sudden rise of the Crown Prince and his policies, one of which led to the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It confirms that Khashoggi was a supporter of the Kingdom during the era of the previous king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, and even tried to polish Saudi Arabia’s bad image in Western circles, but with the era of Salman, the escalation of Crown Prince Mohammed, and the adoption of a repressive policy that included relatives and friends of Khashoggi, the man turned to criticizing the regime. According to Madawi, Khashoggi represented a black box for the Saudi regime, and Khashoggi was now seen as a threat to the Saudi regime. Due to his inside knowledge of the Saudi regime after decades of working in the service of this regime.
Madawi believes that Khashoggi's murder must be understood in the context of the Crown Prince's strict policy that aims to silence opponents and spread fear in the name of protecting and defending the homeland. The Crown Prince does this only through his populist tools. Saud Al-Qahtani was one of these tools. In a misleading text in the book, he practiced “bullying” in the name of the nation. Al-Qahtani called on the people to draw up a list of traitors to eliminate them, and promoted the idea of the citizen informant to defend the nation.
These were the prince's tools to return Saudi Arabia to what he called its original, moderate Islam, which had been corrupted by the Awakening. In fact, quite the opposite was true. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not spreading moderate Islam, but populist nationalism to cover up his divisive policies, and “Saudi Arabia for the Saudis” and “Saudi First” were the hashtag slogans of the new Saudi nationalism.
In order for nationalist populism to flourish, he first had to turn Saudi youth into champions of this new nationalism, promising them better job opportunities and the illusion of liberal modernization. According to Madawi, bin Salman presented the Saudis with news and circuses. On the other hand, he was certain that this new nation would not be born except by eliminating the sources of What he thought was what led the Kingdom to extremism, which is the "Awakening", and thus he launched widespread campaigns against religious scholars and Islamists who were men of the Awakening. On the other hand, he had to create a national narrative, and as Madawi says, his story about the identity of the Saudis is not without contradictions, but in general he had to mobilize nationalism, either by inciting against the Houthis or by inciting against Iran. The Saudi nationalism promoted by Bin Salman wants to isolate the Saudis from Arab issues, especially Palestinian ones, in order to normalize relations with Israel, but Saudi Arabia lacks nationalist ideologues who theorize about this imagined nationalism.
Madawi explores the tribal, customary, regional, and religious diversity of the Kingdom’s population, revealing challenges that narratives of national inclusion do not address, such as the diversity of Saudi tribal groups that essentially contributed to the emergence of the state. Both Saud Al-Qahtani and Ahmed Asiri are considered to be aides to Bin Salman, who use the names of their tribes. The ongoing tribalism in the Kingdom - according to Madawi - is one of the functions of the state. In 2017, the Kingdom used tribal groups to compose Bedouin poetry to disparage the lineage of the Emir of Qatar. In general, tribalism is a contradictory discourse to nationalism, as from its fragments the Saudi state is trying to build a new nationalism.
Many times, Madawi's vision is mixed with her liberal mood on human rights issues related to women and their rights in particular. Rather, sometimes she seems to be defending questionable relationships, such as the relationship of a British employee in the Kingdom with a Saudi girl, a relationship that has developed into dangerous territory. In general, she stands with Saudi women against what she sees as patriarchal authority. What interests me in Madawi’s criticism is not the aspect in which I differ ideologically with Madawi, but rather what interests me is the aspect of administrative and political corruption under the umbrella of Saudi reform, which is what you carefully monitor.
At the end of the book, Madawi spoke about Saudi youth who fled outside their country to escape tyranny. These, as Madawi sees, represent the Saudi diaspora. They fled simply because they “feared oppression,” especially with the ease of provoking the Saudi regime with the slightest thing such as a tweet to become an enemy of the regime. The future of the Saudi regime is bleak, in Madawi’s view, in light of the silencing of opponents and the betrayal of those who criticize the Crown Prince’s policies, such as the flotation of Aramco or the war on Yemen. The book is very good, I just needed to focus more on the Crown Prince as in the title of the book.
From the moment the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, Madawi sets out to uncover the circumstances of the rising Saudi scene at the hands of Mohammed bin Salman, who paid millions of dollars to bribe politicians and journalists and fund some Western academies to appear as an open liberal. The scene of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder became shocking to everyone who saw in the man an advocate of liberalism. What is new in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques? However, these academics, media pundits, and policy makers saw that reforming the Saudi economy and society was necessarily a violent act that must be carried out by an authoritarian person. Khashoggi’s killing, according to Madawi, was merely the result of an aggressive, hyper-nationalist agenda, the purpose of which was to strengthen the power of the newly appointed prince who appeared to be... He did not enjoy consensus among his family, so he unleashed the hand of oppression and created a network of agents on Twitter whose goal was to collect data on opponents and report on them. He imprisoned many prisoners of conscience, and cases of forced disappearances, executions and beheadings appeared. According to Madawi, the Saudis began to flee from country in large numbers. He led a major campaign against Islamists, feminists, and opponents of the House of Saud themselves.
Madawi monitors the features of the sudden rise of the Crown Prince and his policies, one of which led to the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It confirms that Khashoggi was a supporter of the Kingdom during the era of the previous king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, and even tried to polish Saudi Arabia’s bad image in Western circles, but with the era of Salman, the escalation of Crown Prince Mohammed, and the adoption of a repressive policy that included relatives and friends of Khashoggi, the man turned to criticizing the regime. According to Madawi, Khashoggi represented a black box for the Saudi regime, and Khashoggi was now seen as a threat to the Saudi regime. Due to his inside knowledge of the Saudi regime after decades of working in the service of this regime.
Madawi believes that Khashoggi's murder must be understood in the context of the Crown Prince's strict policy that aims to silence opponents and spread fear in the name of protecting and defending the homeland. The Crown Prince does this only through his populist tools. Saud Al-Qahtani was one of these tools. In a misleading text in the book, he practiced “bullying” in the name of the nation. Al-Qahtani called on the people to draw up a list of traitors to eliminate them, and promoted the idea of the citizen informant to defend the nation.
These were the prince's tools to return Saudi Arabia to what he called its original, moderate Islam, which had been corrupted by the Awakening. In fact, quite the opposite was true. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not spreading moderate Islam, but populist nationalism to cover up his divisive policies, and “Saudi Arabia for the Saudis” and “Saudi First” were the hashtag slogans of the new Saudi nationalism.
In order for nationalist populism to flourish, he first had to turn Saudi youth into champions of this new nationalism, promising them better job opportunities and the illusion of liberal modernization. According to Madawi, bin Salman presented the Saudis with news and circuses. On the other hand, he was certain that this new nation would not be born except by eliminating the sources of What he thought was what led the Kingdom to extremism, which is the "Awakening", and thus he launched widespread campaigns against religious scholars and Islamists who were men of the Awakening. On the other hand, he had to create a national narrative, and as Madawi says, his story about the identity of the Saudis is not without contradictions, but in general he had to mobilize nationalism, either by inciting against the Houthis or by inciting against Iran. The Saudi nationalism promoted by Bin Salman wants to isolate the Saudis from Arab issues, especially Palestinian ones, in order to normalize relations with Israel, but Saudi Arabia lacks nationalist ideologues who theorize about this imagined nationalism.
Madawi explores the tribal, customary, regional, and religious diversity of the Kingdom’s population, revealing challenges that narratives of national inclusion do not address, such as the diversity of Saudi tribal groups that essentially contributed to the emergence of the state. Both Saud Al-Qahtani and Ahmed Asiri are considered to be aides to Bin Salman, who use the names of their tribes. The ongoing tribalism in the Kingdom - according to Madawi - is one of the functions of the state. In 2017, the Kingdom used tribal groups to compose Bedouin poetry to disparage the lineage of the Emir of Qatar. In general, tribalism is a contradictory discourse to nationalism, as from its fragments the Saudi state is trying to build a new nationalism.
Many times, Madawi's vision is mixed with her liberal mood on human rights issues related to women and their rights in particular. Rather, sometimes she seems to be defending questionable relationships, such as the relationship of a British employee in the Kingdom with a Saudi girl, a relationship that has developed into dangerous territory. In general, she stands with Saudi women against what she sees as patriarchal authority. What interests me in Madawi’s criticism is not the aspect in which I differ ideologically with Madawi, but rather what interests me is the aspect of administrative and political corruption under the umbrella of Saudi reform, which is what you carefully monitor.
At the end of the book, Madawi spoke about Saudi youth who fled outside their country to escape tyranny. These, as Madawi sees, represent the Saudi diaspora. They fled simply because they “feared oppression,” especially with the ease of provoking the Saudi regime with the slightest thing such as a tweet to become an enemy of the regime. The future of the Saudi regime is bleak, in Madawi’s view, in light of the silencing of opponents and the betrayal of those who criticize the Crown Prince’s policies, such as the flotation of Aramco or the war on Yemen. The book is very good, I just needed to focus more on the Crown Prince as in the title of the book.
January 8, 2022
Having looked at various books on modern Saudi Arabia and the crown prince Muhammad bin Salman (“MBS”), I chose this one for its more academic perspective. That is indeed the general tone, despite the author locating herself within the same diaspora that she describes in various sections of the book. (Her father left Saudi Arabia in 1975 because his nephew assassinated King Faisal.)
Although the author describes a “cult” of MBS, she doesn’t really try to convey his character, core beliefs or motivations as an individual. She describes the regime’s self-justification as euergetism, a concept more usually applied to ancient Greece or Rome, which basically means good deeds, i.e. the ruler takes credit for patronage of the whole country and populace, in particular in terms of “bread and circuses”.
The author frequently reminds us that the Saudi state only dates from the 1930s, and that its regions differ in terms of culture and religion from the royal family’s power base of Najd. She cites evidence that Saudi Arabia has the highest prevalence of Twitter users in the world, although the regime has set up “farms” of bots and human operatives to troll and intimidate any unacceptable opinions.
The ideology espoused by the regime to justify itself has changed over time, and the author distinguishes three phases: religious nationalism, pan-Islamism and now populist nationalism. The first occurred during the initial decades of the family’s rule, which was justified by the instigation of a renewed and purified Islam. The behaviour of the royal family led some Islamists to see them as betrayers of this ideal, and after the Mecca siege of 1979 the regime directed more funds and publicity to Islamic causes around the world, and to the Palestinian struggle. Nowadays the latter has been forgotten as part of the Saudi Arabia First policy, which the author sees as a populist nationalist justification of the regime.
MBS decides what is or is not allowed, e.g. he can allow women to drive, but then only he can take credit for this move: anyone saying that their previous demands have been vindicated is liable to be punished. Anyone writing about human rights is liable to be detained and abused. One case detailed in the book is that of Ali Dubaisi, who was held for more than 300 days in police stations and the General Intelligence Prison and the General Prison in Dammam. No charge was made against him and now leads a human rights organization in Berlin. Another theme of the book is the flight from the regime, especially of young people, including “runaway girls” who want to make their own life decisions. Even if allowed to leave, dissidents are liable to be kidnapped and returned to Saudi Arabia.
Overall the book is a convincing description of a country at the mercy of a capricious and arrogant autocrat.
Although the author describes a “cult” of MBS, she doesn’t really try to convey his character, core beliefs or motivations as an individual. She describes the regime’s self-justification as euergetism, a concept more usually applied to ancient Greece or Rome, which basically means good deeds, i.e. the ruler takes credit for patronage of the whole country and populace, in particular in terms of “bread and circuses”.
The author frequently reminds us that the Saudi state only dates from the 1930s, and that its regions differ in terms of culture and religion from the royal family’s power base of Najd. She cites evidence that Saudi Arabia has the highest prevalence of Twitter users in the world, although the regime has set up “farms” of bots and human operatives to troll and intimidate any unacceptable opinions.
The ideology espoused by the regime to justify itself has changed over time, and the author distinguishes three phases: religious nationalism, pan-Islamism and now populist nationalism. The first occurred during the initial decades of the family’s rule, which was justified by the instigation of a renewed and purified Islam. The behaviour of the royal family led some Islamists to see them as betrayers of this ideal, and after the Mecca siege of 1979 the regime directed more funds and publicity to Islamic causes around the world, and to the Palestinian struggle. Nowadays the latter has been forgotten as part of the Saudi Arabia First policy, which the author sees as a populist nationalist justification of the regime.
MBS decides what is or is not allowed, e.g. he can allow women to drive, but then only he can take credit for this move: anyone saying that their previous demands have been vindicated is liable to be punished. Anyone writing about human rights is liable to be detained and abused. One case detailed in the book is that of Ali Dubaisi, who was held for more than 300 days in police stations and the General Intelligence Prison and the General Prison in Dammam. No charge was made against him and now leads a human rights organization in Berlin. Another theme of the book is the flight from the regime, especially of young people, including “runaway girls” who want to make their own life decisions. Even if allowed to leave, dissidents are liable to be kidnapped and returned to Saudi Arabia.
Overall the book is a convincing description of a country at the mercy of a capricious and arrogant autocrat.
December 28, 2020
When Mohammed bin Salman was catapulted to prominence by his father a massive PR campaign around the world was launched to hail a new era of a reformed Saudi Arabia. But the reality is neither that simple nor that appealing. Madawi Al-Rasheed, Visiting Professor at the LSE's Middle East Centre, has produced a brilliant guide to that reality, from the life and death of Jamal Khashoggi to the experienced of true reformists who languish in prison or else have chosen life in exile. Though supported by impeccable academic research this is a supremely readable and engrossing work that should engage anyone interested in the evolution of the Arabian Peninsula.
February 24, 2021
It paint darker future of Saudi Arabia.
July 20, 2021
Dark future of Saudia
August 25, 2021
A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the Al Saud and their grip on the Arabian Peninsula and its people.
September 22, 2021
It may not add to Saudies, but a good source for foreigners to understand the whole picture clearly. Dr Madwi never disappointed me as I enjoy reading her publications.
April 2, 2024
Quite academic but well written
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews