The Man Who Would Be King of Saudi Arabia (with Karen Elliott House)
2/23/20261 hr 17 min
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been dragging Saudi Arabia into the modern world over the last decade. Journalist and author Karen Elliott House lays out the Saudi leader's motivations, hopes, and contradictions. Listen as she and EconTalk's Russ Roberts explore the crown prince's mix of cultural liberalization and political dominance and where his balancing act might lead his country in the future.
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First 90 secondsRuss Roberts· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Welcome to EconTalk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Go to econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation. You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to two thousand and six. Our email address is mail@econtalk.org. We'd love to hear from you. [upbeat music] Today is January twelfth, twenty twenty-six, and my guest is journalist and author Karen Elliott House. Her latest book is The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia, and that is the subject of today's conversation. Karen, welcome to EconTalk.
Karen Elliott House· Guest0:56
Thank you very much.
Russ Roberts· Host0:58
Your book is a portrait of Mohammed bin Salman, and I may be pronouncing his name c-- uh, incorrectly. You'll, you'll tell me. He is the thirty-nine-year-old prince, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He is commonly known as MBS for his initials. He is the son of King Salman, the crown prince, and indeed, the man who would be king. Let's start with how his father came into power and, and how MBS is so much more than a prince in waiting, which is-- would be a- Mm-hmm ... normal thing to assume.