Unpacking Mohammad bin Salman and Moderate Islam in Saudi Arabia

Policy Matters

In October 2017, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, or MBS, announced that he would “return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam.” His policies since then have eased restrictions on gender segregation in public spaces, including allowing women to drive, yet these have also been accompanied by a crackdown on any type of dissent, including the imprisonment of countless intellectuals, activists, and clerics. What is one to make of these changes occurring within Saudi Arabia, and what implications do MBS’s moves have for our understanding of religious and political authority in the Kingdom?

This episode’s guest is Dr. Annelle Sheline, a nonresident fellow with the Baker Institute’s Center for the Middle East and a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.