The Inside Story Of How Saudi Arabia Was Transformed (S01E163)

badlands podcast by borzou daragahi · Oct 19, 2026 · 1h 3m

Friday, October 2, 2026, Istanbul

For more than a decade, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has undertaken effort to transform Saudi Arabia from a staid welfare state largely dependent on oil revenues and imported labor into a more dynamic economy.

Former Swedish Minister of Employment Sven Otto Littorin has spent the better part of the last 10 years inside Saudi Arabia’s labor ministry as an adviser to the government. He helped come up with the reforms and new policies that have brought women into the workforce for the time first time in the country’s history and helped ignite the country’s…