The man, the vision, the Kingdom

Arab News

a day ago

https://arab.news/bqbgr
For nearly a decade, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has led a remarkable socioeconomic transformation of Saudi Arabia. Vision 2030 has enabled the Kingdom to emerge as a pivotal regional and global actor, drawing on its exceptional national traits as the richest Arab nation, the largest Gulf state, the citadel of Islam, and the global energy leader.
Yet Western understanding of this profound shift has lagged. It remains filtered through outdated frames and Orientalist assumptions, often colored by neo-colonial liberal agendas in both policy and perception.
Karen Elliott House's 'The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia' comes as a welcome corrective. This book, by one of America's most seasoned observers of the Kingdom, offers a vivid, up-close exploration of the crown prince: his personality, his ambitions, and the sweeping changes reshaping Saudi society.
At its heart, House's account charts the breathtaking pace of reform since 2015. She highlights the rise of a leader whose ascent was at once unforeseen and, in hindsight, inevitable. The crown prince emerges in her telling as a figure capable of breaking through entrenched interests and barriers that long stifled Saudi development.
What gives the narrative authenticity is House's use of firsthand encounters. She draws on meetings with the crown prince himself and conversations with a wide spectrum of Saudis — ministers, business innovators, and young men and women. This textured reporting gives the reforms a human face, illustrating changes that once seemed unimaginable.
In many respects, House has written a book less about policy papers and more about lived transformation. She describes the rollback of religious police, the rise of entertainment and culture, and, most of all, the expanded role of women. Where once Saudi women were absent from public life, they are now company leaders, astronauts, athletes, and diplomats. As House notes: 'A woman's ambition is no longer deplorable but laudable ... A woman's aspiration to public office, once a source of family shame, is now cause for pride.'
The impact on Saudi youth is equally striking. Long deprived of normal outlets for expression and social interaction, young Saudis now embrace the opportunities opening before them. House portrays their excitement vividly: the joy at concerts and festivals, the ease of public mingling, the confidence of a generation that sees itself as global competitors.
Karen Elliott House's 'The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia' comes as a welcome corrective.
Dr. Ali Awadh Asseri
Vision 2030 is the thread that runs through the book. House shows that it is not only an economic diversification plan but also a recalibration of the social contract. It seeks to unleash Saudi creativity, talent, and ambition — male and female — on a scale unseen in the Kingdom's modern history.
She captures how giga-projects such as NEOM and the Line are more than futuristic visions. They symbolize Saudi Arabia reclaiming its place as a global crossroads of people, ideas, and commerce. For House, these initiatives embody a historic reorientation: from rentier state to entrepreneurial society.
This dimension of the book is especially relevant today. The crown prince's assertive diplomacy — whether reconciliation with Iran, mediation in Ukraine, advocacy for Palestine, rapport with Washington, or outreach to China and Russia — confirms House's portrayal of a leader intent on securing Saudi interests in a turbulent world. She notes how Saudis themselves increasingly view old partners as unreliable, making self-reliance and proactive diplomacy an imperative.
House situates the crown prince in a wider geopolitical context. The Middle East of the past decade has been marked by extremism, terrorism, and war — with devastating consequences. Against this backdrop, Saudi Arabia has diversified its partnerships and acted more independently in pursuit of national interests.
'The world has a stake in MBS. If over the next generation he can truly transform Saudi into a beacon of moderate Islam, not extremism, that will impact the whole Islamic world given the Kingdom's influence as custodian of Islam's holiest sites.'
Recent events validate this analysis: Saudi Arabia has hosted peace talks on Ukraine, worked to dampen Iran-Israel escalation, and spearheaded Arab-Islamic unity on Gaza. These initiatives underscore the point: National prosperity is inseparable from regional stability. The crown prince has translated this insight into a more confident, pragmatic foreign policy — Saudi Arabia as bridge-builder, not merely a player — while declaring 'Saudi Arabia First' as his guiding principle.
House considers Western criticism of the Kingdom unjust, arguing: 'Saudi Arabia doesn't actually top any analytical list of most abusive governments (and) ranks in abuses well behind Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea.' Yet, 'US officials — and to some extent American people — hold Saudi Arabia, a longtime ally, more accountable than they do adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran.'
This is where House departs from many Western commentators. She shows that the reforms underway are neither cosmetic nor superficial. They are part of an overarching national project. For Saudis, the pace is not reckless, but necessary — an answer to decades of inertia and to the demands of a young, ambitious population.
The crown prince's assertive diplomacy confirms Karen Elliott House's portrayal of a leader intent on securing Saudi interests in a turbulent world.
Dr. Ali Awadh Asseri
Still, the author acknowledges lingering skepticism in Western circles. Can giga-projects succeed? Can rapid liberalization be sustained? She treats these questions seriously, but ultimately suggests they underestimate Saudi resilience and adaptability.
While American columnist Thomas Friedman has at times highlighted the crown prince's boldness, Western media has often been critical, focusing on shortcomings, while overlooking successes. Academic literature has often echoed this criticism. David Rundell's 'Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads' (2021) questioned how much of Vision 2030 is genuine transformation and how much remains illusion. House herself was cautious in her earlier work 'On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — and Future' (2015), but her latest book marks a striking shift — from realism to recognition that the Kingdom has entered a new era.
If the book has a flaw, it is that it sometimes underplays how much Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's vision is rooted in Saudi traditions. While comparisons to Augustus, Peter the Great, or Lee Kuan Yew are illuminating, they risk obscuring the distinctively Saudi framework: one shaped by our religion, history, tribes, and youthful energy. The crown prince's ambition is not imported; it is authentically Saudi. As House portrays him, he sees himself as 'a historic figure, a leader not only transforming Saudi Arabia but impacting the world with his big dreams and bold intentions.'
That said, House succeeds in showing how the Kingdom has redefined itself — not imitating others, but setting its own course. The national mood she captures — confidence, pride, ambition — is unmistakably Saudi.
Her narrative is brisk — more political chronicle than biography, enlivened with anecdotes that make the book both authoritative and accessible.
In the end, 'The Man Who Would Be King' is more than a portrait of one leader. It is a chronicle of a nation in renewal. For outsiders, it explains reforms too often misunderstood; for Saudis, it captures the transformation we are living.
House's access and analysis are formidable, but the deeper story is the Kingdom itself: a people writing a new chapter with ambition and confidence under determined leadership. Saudi Arabia's journey is still unfolding. However, as this book reminds us, the Kingdom is no longer defined by what it was, but by what it is becoming.