Muhammad bin Salman Al-Saud and Muhammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the respective princely strongmen of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have torn up the old rules. They have spurred game-changing economic master plans, presided over vast anti-corruption crackdowns, tackled entrenched religious forces, and overseen the mass arrest of critics. In parallel, they also appear to have replaced the old ‘sheikhly’ consensus systems of their predecessors with something more autocratic, more personalistic, and perhaps even analytically distinct.
These are the two wealthiest and most populous Gulf monarchies, and increasingly important global actors—Saudi Arabia is a G20 member, and the UAE will be the host of the World Expo in 2021–2022. Such sweeping changes to their statecraft and authority structures could well end up having a direct impact, for better or worse, on policies, economies and individual lives all around the world.
Christopher M. Davidson tests the hypothesis that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are now effectively contemporary or even ‘advanced’ sultanates, and situates these influential states within an international model of autocratic authoritarianism. Drawing on a range of primary sources, including new interviews and surveys, From Sheikhs to Sultanism puts forward an original, empirically grounded interpretation of the rise of both MBS and MBZ.
Publishers’ websites: Hurst & Co. / Oxford University Press
E-book / online library version: Oxford University Press Scholarship Online
Table of contents: available here
Excerpt (introduction, chapter 1, chapter 2, and accompanying endnotes): available here
Excerpt 2 (chapter 4, and accompanying endnotes): available here
Selected bibliography (books and journal articles only – as included in the book): available here
Full bibliography (all sources: academic, policy-focused, official / governmental, INGOs, NGOs, commercial entities, international / local media): available here
Full dataset (MS Excel format, based on all interview and survey responses): forthcoming
Reviews and features:
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies – review 1 (Robert Springborg)
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies – review 2 (Harry Verhoeven)
Middle East Policy – review (James Piscatori)
Al-Sharq – review
Hiroshima Journal of Peace Science (Japanese) – review
Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies – review
Podcast interview with Arab Digest – available here (verbatim written transcript available on request)
Podcast interview with the SEPAD project, Richardson Institute, Lancaster University – available here