Mark C. Thompson is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia, and Senior Associate Fellow at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia. His articles have been published in the Journal of Arabian Studies, Asian Affairs, Middle Eastern Studies, Middle East Policy and Gulf Affairs, he is the author of Saudi Arabia and the Path to Political Change: National Dialogue and Civil Society (2014) and co-editor of Policy-Making in the GCC: State, Citizens and Institutions (2017) with Dr Neil Quilliam.