Professor Behrooz: Monarch's Death Won't Affect Saudi Arabia Oil Price Policies

SPUTNIK NEWS -- Death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Saud will not cause any major shifts in the country’s international affairs, domestic or economic policies, experts told Sputnik News Agency. “Although the late king was considered a reformer of some kind in internal matters of the kingdom, Saudi policy toward the peace process, Iran or the oil issue will probably not change in a dramatic manner,” said Maziar Behrooz, associate professor in the History Department of San Francisco State University and an expert on the modern history of the Middle East. Although the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, its internal and foreign policy is developed through a consensus among the ruling class, so death of King Abdullah will not make a major difference, Behrooz explained.