King Salman of Saudi Arabia began his rule in 2015 confronted with a series of unprecedented challenges. The dilemmas he has faced are new and significant, from leadership shuffles and falling oil prices to regional and international upheaval. This talk launches the edited volume 'Salman’s Legacy', which interrogates this era and assesses its multiple social, political, regional and international challenges. Whether Salman’s policies have saved the kingdom from serious upheaval is yet to be seen, but no doubt a new kingdom is emerging.

Madawi Al-Rasheed (@MadawiDr) is Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Centre. Previously, she was Professor of Anthropology of Religion at King’s College London. She has also taught at Goldsmiths, University of London and the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.

Steffen Hertog is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics in the Department of Government at LSE. He was previously Kuwait Professor at Sciences Po Paris, lecturer in political economy at the University of Durham and post-doctoral research fellow at Princeton University.

Michael Farquhar is Lecturer in Middle East Politics at King's College London. His book 'Circuits of Faith: Migration, Education and the Wahhabi Mission', published in 2016, looks at Saudi state-funded Islamic missionary work in the 20th Century.

Courtney Freer (@courtneyfreer) is Research Officer at the Kuwait Programme, where her work focuses on domestic politics of the Gulf states, with particular interest in Islamism and tribalism. 

The LSE Middle East Centre (@LSEMiddleEast) builds on LSE's long engagement with the Middle East and North Africa and provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the region carried out at LSE.

Join the conversation on Twitter using #LSELegacy