Saudi Arabia is going through one of the most difficult periods in its modern history. Oil prices have dropped from a July 2014 high of $115 per barrel to less than $30 per barrel in January this year. The country is surrounded by failed states: Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria and, arguably, Lebanon. It has a demographic bulge of ambitious, but exceedingly frustrated, young men and women whose expectations differ dramatically from those of their parents. And it faces an emboldened Iran eager to interfere in the affairs of Arab countries, and with the financial wherewithal to do so, via proxy armed militia.
Any one of these challenges would be hard enough to tackle on its own. Saudi Arabia is having to deal with all of them at once.
Since the Third Saudi State was founded by King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud in 1932, it has largely been risk averse, cautious and non-confrontational. The same cannot be said about today’s Saudi Arabia, however.