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This book examines the structure of political power amongst elites inside Saudi Arabia and how they might cope with the very serious challenge posed by succession. Presenting a new and refreshing theoretical approach that links elite integration with regime stability, the author shows that the kingdom's royal elite is far more integrated than it has generally been given credit for. Based on extensive field work inside Saudi Arabia, the book offers a detailed, up-to-date survey and assessment of all the key sectors of the elites in the country. The author examines how the succession process has been used in highly different circumstances - including deposition, assassination, and death by old age - and demonstrates how regime stability in Saudi Arabia rests on the royal family's ability to unite and to solve the challenge of succession. He offers a strong analysis of intra-ruling family mechanisms and dynamics in this notoriously private royal family, and addresses the question of whether, as the number of royals rapidly grows, the elite is able to remain integrated. Providing a rare insight into the issues facing the royal family and ruling elite in Saudi Arabia, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of Middle Eastern politics, and Saudi Arabia in particular.

Stig Stenslie (Senter for etterretningsstudier, Etterretningsskolen) anmelder de tre følgende bøkene: The Problem of Secret Intelligence av Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke (Edinburgh University Press, 2019); Intelligence Oversight in the Twenty-First Century, redigert av Ian Leigh og Njord Wegge (Routledge, 2019); og Intelligence Relations in the 21st Century, redigert av Tom Røseth og John Michael Weaver (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

China's contemporary leadership does not have a "grand strategy" for the 21st century and it is unlikely that the new leaders, who came into power in 2012-13, will be able to craft one. This is a viewpoint that goes against the established truth about China's comeback as a great power in the international arena. China observers concur and to some extent admire the Chinese leadership's ability to think long term and commitment to patiently work towards the realisation of a grand vision for the "Middle Kingdom". There is, undoubtedly, a great deal of strategic thinking going on in China, but it has not been translated into any coherent strategy. Today's Chinese leaders are pragmatists, seeing and seizing every opportunity that arises without a binding plan. They are also introverted, however, and forced to engage in short-term fire-fighting rather than think long term. (China/GIGA)

En utvikling i Saudi-Arabia som rokker ved sa' ud-familiens politiske makt vil få betydelige regionale og globale konsekvenser. Tiden etter 11. september 2001 har tydeliggjort at Sa' udfamilien er presset på hjemmebane. Folket krever endring. Hvor trygt sitter egentlig Saudi-Arabias kongefamilie med makten?

Saudi-Arabias prinsesser øver betydelig politisk innflytelse. Dette til tross for at de ikke besitter noen viktige formelle politiske posisjoner. Enda viktigere er kvinnenes bidrag til å holde samlet kongefamilien, Al Sa'ud, og dermed sikre dens grep om makten.

Mandag 1. august ble bortgangen til Saudi-Arabias kong Fahd bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud kunngjort. Kongen ble trolig 83 år. Fahd hadde vært landets konge siden 1982. Han var den fjerde i rekken av sønnene til Ibn Saud, Saudi-Arabias grunnlegger, til å inneha kongevervet. Hva har Fahds styre og bortgang å si for Saudi-Arabias videre politiske utvikling og stabilitet?