Saudi King Abdullah announced a law that on Monday will guide how a council set up in 2006 regulates political succession. The law seeks to ensure that power lies with the living sons of the kingdom's founder, King Abdel-Aziz bin Abdel-Rehman al-Saud, who died in 1953. The statute also allows two-thirds of the council to force out any prince who is deemed to be "in transgression" of the statute. And within 10 days, a new monarch must inform the council whom he has chosen to be crown prince, or ask the council to make its own nomination. The conventional view of Saudi Arabia is that it is an increasingly unstable polity with a bloated royal family that is heading toward tearing itself apart. But the Saudis have a long history in which the royal family has proven resilient when faced with challenges. Some of the more prominent include: 1. The Ottoman destruction of the state, twice, during the 19th century. 2. The revolt in the late 1920s from the religious militia, the Ikhwan, which had helped found the state. 3. The 1964 deposing of King Saud, the immediate successor of the kingdom's founder, at the hands of his half-brother. 4. King Faisal's assassination in 1975 at the hands of a nephew. 5. The 1979 takeover of the Kaaba by proto-jihadists. 6. The rise of opposition from within the Wahhabi religious establishment and other parts of society after the 1991 Gulf War. 7. The rise of an al Qaeda-led jihadist insurgency in 2003. Each of these events shows that the House of Saud has successfully adapted and manipulated the domestic factors, maintained its coherence, held on to power and, therefore, created political stability. It also should be noted that, since the death of King Abdel-Aziz in 1953, power has moved from one half-brother to another on four separate occasions more or less smoothly. But the big question now is whether the third generation will be as resilient, especially with massive social, economic and political reforms under way. Furthermore, there is now the altered geopolitical reality of the region following the 9/11 attacks. The rise in Iraq of Iran and its Arab Shiite allies following the U.S. move to effect regime change in Baghdad has created a historically unprecedented challenge for the Saudis. King Abdullah realizes the need for internal cohesion in order to face the threat from the Persian Shiite republic. He has been pushing ahead with social and economic reforms, doing so even before he succeeded his brother, King Fahd, in the summer of 2005. Even as a crown prince, Abdullah, who had been de facto ruler since 1995, when King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke, was able to put down a jihadist insurgency that many believed would lead to the collapse of the kingdom. But King Abdullah knows that, in order to mitigate the risks stemming from internal reform and deal with potential infighting, the Saudis need to come up with a mechanism for succession. The old way of ad hoc and informal consensus-building within the royal family can no longer guarantee a smooth transfer of power. The Iranian threat appears to be causing the Saudis to think about straightening out their internal affairs. King Abdullah could not have created the succession law without the support of al Saud's major factions. The internal stability of Saudi Arabia has been in question, so Iran's rise certainly would leave Riyadh vulnerable. But if the Saudis can get their act together, they could present a new power in the Persian Gulf that might be able to counteract a rising Iran — and that could change everything.