Abstract:The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had entered a new term which could be called “Salman’s New Deal” since January 2015. In these years,King Salman had built a super power system dominated by the father-and-son alliance,and decisively adjusted domestic and diplomatic strategies with his resolution to revive the kingdom. To unpack “Salman’s New Deal”,Saudi Arabia has been domestically experimenting with reforming politics,economy,society,culture,religion and feminism with the hope of modernizing and sustainable developing the traditionally conservative kingdom;in terms of diplomacy,Saudi Arabia has been upholding a hawkish stance while bearing realism in mind,intervening geopolitical hotspots on all fronts and balancing relationships with superpowers,overtly showing its agenda of strengthening the kingdom’s status as a regional superpower and defending its national interests. While “Salman’s New Deal” is appreciated for its momentum,possibilities and reformation,it’s also fraught with uncertainties and risks since new policies,domestic and diplomatic,are being instituted simultaneously,some of which are still in experimenting stage. “Salman’s New Deal” is also showing some continuity since it inherited some politic legacies of late King Abdullah,representing the collective will and consensus of the current royal family,to some degrees even revealing the future path the kingdom is going to embark on. Anyway,“Salman’s New Deal” is not a kind of deep reform that could change the political structure or power system,but a wide-scale improvement to ensure the currant absolute monarchy and super authoritarianism. “Salman’s New Deal” is facing some challenges and uncertainties.
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