Facing the Issue of Succession in Saudi Arabia
Dated 10/8/2005
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The smooth transition of power in Saudi Arabia following the death of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz is unlikely to hide the severe challenges facing the new ruler, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. He will have to navigate a host of problems facing the oil-rich kingdom such as relations with the United States, uncertainties following the surprise election of Mohammed Ahmadinejad as the new president of Iran, galloping oil prices, pressures for reform and growing international terrorism.
However, the real challenges facing Abdullah are domestic and will test his ability to provide decisive leadership to Saudi Arabia. With royal members estimated at more than 5,000 princes and perhaps an equal number of disenfranchised princesses, the House of Saud is in the throws of a host of crises.
Aging Rulers
In recent years, a number of Middle Eastern countries have witnessed a change of leaders and the succession invariably meant the ushering in of second-generation leadership; in countries such as Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and Morocco, younger leaders have ascended the thrown. Even in the case of Syria, the death of President Hafez al-Assad led to his son Bashar taking over office. Despite the obvious drawbacks, these leaders represent a younger generation with new aspirations.
Saudi Arabia is not part of this pattern. Succession is still restricted to the sons of its founder King Abdul Aziz al-Saud. Since the founding of the modern Saudi Arabia in 1932, the desert kingdom has had only six rulers; namely Abdul Aziz (1932-53) and his sons Saud (1953-64), Faisal (1964-75), Khalid (1975-82), Fahd (1982-2005) and Abdullah (2005-present).
As a result, each new king is no younger than the earlier one. For example, King Abdullah as well as Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz are between 75 and 90 years of age. At this rate, keeping succession among the sons of the founder will inevitably mean shorter reigns and frequent successions.
Perhaps anticipating this problem, in 1992 King Fahd introduced the basic laws, which among other things proclaimed: "Rulers of the country shall be amongst the sons of the founder and their descendants. The most upright among them shall receive allegiance
