Troubled waters in the Gulf
▻http://www.petroleum-economist.com/articles/politics-economics/middle-east/2017/troubled-waters-in-the-gulf
Even before the Qatar controversy erupted, the population of the Gulf was witnessing a radical change in leadership styles—at least in two of the key GCC states, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Two charismatic and ambitious leaders, Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the son of the king of Saudi Arabia, and Muhammad bin Zaid, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the strongman of the UAE, have led the way.
These two young and energetic princes have challenged the traditional structures and mechanisms of Gulf leadership, offering a new approach that’s more decisive, but less accountable and less predictable.
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The continuation of this new leadership trend would gradually give the two men involved a status more akin to an all-powerful president than a king, more like Sisi of Egypt than the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. For many Gulf citizens this represents a traumatic break with tradition, disturbing in a region where change has always been gradual and measured, and the future has never looked anything other than calm and secure.
There is a danger that the populations could feel even more disenfranchised than before. And with the solid support of the Trump administration, which has cast aside Obama’s dictum that Arab states adhere to high standards of human rights, dissent would be firmly stifled.