Saudi Arabia ’settlement’: Why the kingdom is offering detained elites freedom for their assets

"The more they can make it look like a process that would happen in any Western country, the more they can convince investors that this is all going to be okay," she told CNBC.

As for threats from within the kingdom, Croft said bin Salman has moved so forcefully, there are few who would stand up to him. Further, bin Salman has generated goodwill among the nation's large youth population, and anyone who moved against him would have to convince the public that his reforms would continue.

"I think what we don't appreciate here is how impactful his social reforms have been and how he has been able to make the lives of Saudi young people better," she said.

Those improvements range from a greater sense of economic opportunity, to the simple freedom to attend concerts and play music in restaurants, she said.

While some say bin Salman is reforming Saudi Arabia, it could also be argued that he's creating a "kingdom of fear," said Simon Henderson, director of the Gulf and energy policy program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

People will now be cautious of how and with whom they can safely do business, he said.

"For the moment, it would seem that despite everything, Mohammed bin Salman is considered a good thing, but for this judgment to be sustained, he needs to show positive results for what he's doing and show that he's got popular support within the kingdom," Henderson told CNBC

The clearest test of that, he said, will be the appetite for foreign investors to continue doing business in Saudi Arabia.