The Middle East’s most dynamic leader this year, albeit in a sluggish field, would be Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia. MbS, as the 32-year-old wunderkind is known, has seized the reins of power and set a dizzying pace for a ruling family that by habit coalesces slowly around low common denominators, with caution and consensus as its watchwords.
Saudi Arabia’s radical attempt to fire up its economy with private investment and wean it off dwindling oil revenue is a story with huge implications. There is no doubting the ambition and energy with which MbS, licensed by his aged father, King Salman, is propelling economic and social reform; or how important it is, for the region as well as the kingdom, that he succeeds.
His socio-religious liberalisation is bold, breathing fresh air into a stifled Saudi society. He has clipped the wings of the fanatical religious police. He is slowly dismantling gender segregation and the cloistering of women, and promoting mixed entertainment, lifting ludicrous bans on concerts and cinema. Next year, in a move that must stick in the craw of Wahhabi clerics, women will be allowed to drive.