King Salman is vigorously trimming the dead wood

Saudi's King Salman is a consensus builder whose aim is to restructure and enhance the government’s capacity, writes Theodore Karasik

Saudi's King Salman awaits the arrival of US President Barack Obama in the Kingdom (AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB)

King Salman’s structural changes to Saudi Arabia’s government are taking the kingdom into a new direction of policymaking and implementation. Specifically, the plan, which appears to have been agreed months ago, illustrates the need to be more proactive against internal and external pressures.

The Saudi bureaucracy had swollen and become huge and inefficient. Committees attached to the cabinet and the ministries themselves were frequently so bogged down by paperwork and personnel issues that they couldn’t govern.

In one fell swoop, the King has wiped out 12 of these committees and merged the ministry of higher education and the ministry of education into a “super” ministry. The consolidation, at the highest levels of government, should make governance more proactive.

King Salman is putting his stamp on government in other ways too with two new bodies. The functions of the Council of Political and Security affairs (CPSA) and the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) will be of critical importance in the future. The CPSA is chaired by deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef and the CEDA by defence minister Mohammed bin Salman, the king’s son, whose importance is growing. Not only are these new bodies at the core of King Salman’s government, they are chaired by the next generation of monarchs.

The CPSA’s members include the ministers of foreign affairs, national guard, defence, Islamic affairs, intelligence, culture and information, and several ministers of state with backgrounds in security, policy, and media. It is meant to focus on the need to meet ongoing and new challenges from the likes of ISIL and Al Qaeda and develop a robust communications campaign to counter criticism of the kingdom and to shape defence in a coherent way. Importantly, the CPSA will focus on religious creed and adherence to wahabism as a security issue given the challenges to Sunni Islam from different extremist and terrorist groups.

Finally, the CPSA will deal with the Iran file as the P5+1 talks reach their conclusion. It will have to prepare for the day after an agreement, or the lack of one. But Tehran’s nuclear programme is not the only concern. Its influence in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen are a perennial and festering problem.

The CEDA, whose members are ministers from across all non-security government sectors including education, energy, health, housing and labour will focus on domestic issues.

The kingdom’s demographic problems – the youth bubble, which comprises millions of Saudis seeking employment – is one such. Creating new jobs, more rigorous healthcare standards and improving education are seen as important.

The new “super ministry”, the ministry of education, is seeking to revamp the system to promote smart students and innovative methods. The goal is to move to a knowledge-based economy faster by developing a robust national framework and granting scholarships to students without having to send them abroad. With many Saudi graduates outside the kingdom, this is supposed to be the time to reverse what some call “the Saudi brain drain”.

CEDA will also look at oil pricing strategies and the impact on the kingdom. With the Saudi decision to continue to pump oil at the same level despite falling prices means there will be a need for constant review of the budget, energy infrastructure and extraction plans.

Overall, both the CPSA and CEDA are a critical development for Saudi Arabia. The new king’s vision for the country has come as a bit of a surprise even to long-time observers. It is vastly different from that of his predecessor. As many have noted, King Salman is a consensus builder; now, he is employing the same approach to restructure and enhance the government’s capacity.

Dr Theodore Karasik is an analyst on the Gulf, specifically the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is based in Dubai