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What Comes After King Fahd? by Ashraf Laidi 8/1/2005
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Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud has died today at the age of 82 after 23 years on the throne. It’s already known that the majority of decision-making powers in Saudi Arabia have been assumed by Fahd’s Half brother Abdullah over the past 9 years. King Abdullah 81, is more of a conservative figure and is not seen as sympathetic to the US as his predecessor . Despite Abdullah’s general assumption of power, mounting speculation suggested that the death of Fahd could lead to a more abrupt change of Saudi foreign policy towards the US such as oil diplomacy and socio-economic currents.
In order to have a better perspective on what makes King Abdullah stand out from the rest of the pack of possible appointees, it’s important to point out that King Abdullah’s mother came from the Shammar tribe and is not the same mother as that of the late Fahd (Hassa bint Sudeiri). While Fahd and his 6 full brothers (Princes Sultan, Abdel-Rahman, Nayef, Turki, Salman and Ahmed) were known as the Sudairi Seven, Abdullah had no full brothers. In 1996, Abdullah was handed much of the executive powers after Fahd had a stroke. The transfer of power led to much acrimony among the senior princes, but did not stop Abdullah from acquiring more control over the subsequent years.
Abdullah’s growing dominance emanated from his closeness to the tribal chieftains, an essential attribute in governing the Kingdom. The loyalty he had from the Tribes of the Najd region also enabled him to maintain dominance in the National Guard, most of which is made up from the tribal population of the Najd region. The Guard has also been considered as a counterweight to the Armed Forces.
This article contains the following sections:
The Next Generation
Geopolitics & Petroeconomics
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