The Predator's Hour and Authoritarian Modernization | Analysis

The text analyzes the case of Saudi Arabia as a model of parallel socio-economic modernization and drastic centralization of power under the rule of Mohammed bin Salman. The author refers to Giuliano da Empoli's concepts, interpreting the crown prince's actions as 'manual override'—the sudden cutting off of previous elites from influence. A key element of this strategy was the 2017 anti-corruption campaign, which in practice served to reconfigure the oligarchy and redistribute wealth outside standard legal frameworks (rule by law). This process, analyzed through the lens of Vilfredo Pareto's theory of the circulation of elites, shows a transition from a collegial monarchical system to a highly centralized model where modernization serves to legitimize the new power structure.