The Ascent of Saudi Arabia to a Regional Hegemon: The Role of Institutional Power in the League of Arab States (original) (raw)

Beyond Money and Diplomacy: Regional Policies of Saudi Arabia and UAE after the Arab Spring

2017

The post-Arab Spring context created a window of opportunity for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to reposition themselves in the region as countries capable of using not only money and diplomacy, but also military means in pursuing their regional policies. Their military interventions in Bahrain in 2011 and Yemen in 2015 uncover different aspects of the militarisation of their foreign policies. The permanence of the militarisation of their policies is, however, challenged by the type of interventionist state unfolding from these muscular policies, their domestic and regional legitimacy and the institutionalisation of this foreign policy pattern.

The forming of Saudi Arabia and the challenges in its international relations

2016

Saudi Arabia is regional power which shapes the international relations in the Middle East. The establishment of the state and the sources of its legitimacy through which proclaims itself as the protector of Islam shape its specific relations with other countries in the Middle East. Today's biggest challenges for the country are maintaining the legitimacy of the monarchy internally and its leadership in the region, which is under challenge from her most ideological and geopolitical rival Iran. The challenge is also how to maintain longstanding alliance with the United States and the connection with this great power which radical extremists strongly exploit to deligitimizes the county as "a leader in the Islamic world." And finally how to deal with oil price shocks which is the living source of the country. In this paper we will try to answer the question whether Saudi Arabia led a strong regional foreign policy to maintain a strong influence from Tehran, which undermines the legitimacy of the state and its place in the Islamic world? Also we will try to present external challenges which the state sees as very threatening for the Kingdom and the policies undertaken for those challenges. The behavior of Saudi Arabia as a regional power has its source in that it is seen as the protector of "correct Islam" and as such should be a leader in the region so it is of great importance to know the possible outcomes from the challenges that the country have to address.

Impacts of Saudi Hegemony on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

The events of the 2016 summit of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey demonstrate how Saudi Arabia’s role within the organization has been transformed from leadership into a hegemonic one, a process that has been unfolding over five decades. As a strong voice in the Muslim world, Saudi Arabia has employed a range of diplomatic strategies, in accordance with its national interests, to influence the OIC and its member states. Based on the analysis, this paper argues that Saudi Arabia has been able to exert hegemonic control over the OIC due to the organization’s structural make-up, its reliance on Saudi funding, as well as dominance in bilateral affairs with majority of the OIC members.

“The Saudi Spring”: A new political order and an aspiring regional hegemon

Middle East Bulletin 39 | Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies, 2021

In the wake of the Arab Spring, Saudi Arabia was considered to be amongst the countries that were untouched by popular dissent and the wave causing regime change sweeping the Arab world. Despite that, Riyadh wasn’t as bulletproof as it seemed at first and had to respond to domestic challenges and adjust to new conditions in the Gulf regional sub-system. After tackling short-term effects that could destabilize domestic politics and its immediate neighborhood, Riyadh was presented with a new geopolitical status quo that posed an opportunity in reversing Iranian influence. Ten years after the popular uprisings, Riyadh and its new Crown Prince have moved to consolidation of power, an aggressive foreign policy and renewed aspirations for regional hegemony.

Regional Disorder and New Geo-economic Order: Saudi Security Strategies in a Reshaped Middle East

The Arab uprisings have rightfully provoked an incredible burgeoning of research projects and fuelled existing ones with new energy. Among the numerous issues the “Arab Spring” has arisen is the question of its impact on the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This paper focuses on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and aims at analyzing its response to the ambient disorder in terms of security strategies. Considering how closely interlinked Saudi foreign and security policies have always been, it is important to examine the impact of the recent regional events on Saudi security issues and interests. Together with the political realities on ground, they indeed represent the main determinants of the dynamics of the Saudi response that this paper analyzes. The idea explored in this paper is that the evolving strategic environment faced by KSA (at both regional and global levels) represents new security challenges as well as a window of opportunity to adopt more assertive foreign and security policies. This paper studies how the Arab uprisings deeply modify global security issues and related risks in the whole Middle-East and North Africa region, which represents specific pressures and security issues as well as a window of opportunity onto a new regional lead for KSA. The more assertive Saudi foreign and security policies this has led to are assessed through the “hegemonic vs. defensive” analysis and a third view is offered: the current Saudi security strategies could be read as an attempted leadership on a revived “hegemonic cooperation”. In order to test this hypothesis, the paper explores another issue: the role of geo-economic trends, associated with a perceived shift in traditional alliances and interests, in the new Saudi strategic stance. Examining the change in traditional security paradigms in the region – particularly linked to uncertainty about the future US position towards the Gulf –, the author goes through the scope of possible strategies it opens for KSA and its partners: a continued reliance on the West as ultimate security guarantee, a diversification of partnerships looking East and the development of an integrated regional security system. With regards to the latter option, possibly combined with the other two, the paper then examines how this GCC “hegemonic security cooperation” could work within what has been labelled as the “Arab Gulf Moment”. This analysis involves a development on regional antagonisms and rivalries which are likely to jeopardize this option. Finally, the author offers an outlook on the regional and global repercussions that these renewed Saudi strategies towards its security challenges could have.

Strategic Studies Institute: The Gulf Moment: Arab Relations Since 2011

This monograph examines the impact that the “Arab Spring” has had on how Arab states relate to each other post-regime change and post-Islamist electoral victory. It shows that the region is undergoing a profound change as some traditional regional policy actors are paralyzed by internal turmoil (such as Syria and Egypt), while others do not have a regional ambition (such as Algeria and Morocco). The region has therefore entered a Gulf moment where key decisions pertaining to the region’s future are now taken in Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi. From having once been mere bystanders of regional politics, the Gulf States have moved to become players with both the ambition and capability to shape regional dynamics. As the ripple effects of their 2014 rift show, these dynamics will have a wider Arab impact.

Saudi Arabia as a Resurgent Regional Power

The International Spectator

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Managing the Arab Spring: The Saudi Way

Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 2014

The Arab Spring posed a number of challenges for Saudi Arabia both internally and externally. Its primary concern was to maintain security and stability within the kingdom as it feared a spillover of the problems faced by the affected countries. Arab Spring also challenged the regional dynamics which had the potential to harm Saudi national interests. Thus, the monarchy tried to manage the emerging situation by keeping an eye on its domestic stability and maintaining its external standing. Though it applied similar strategies inside and outside, the approaches were contradictory. It was accommodative in dealing with the situation within, but chose to be assertive when it came to pursuing its interests outside. It managed to effectively achieve its objectives of avoiding the spread of protests and the attendant potential for instability inside the kingdom despite facing security concerns. Moreover, it was largely successful in influencing the events in Bahrain and Yemen to secure its interests, and with Syria staring at a stalemate and an altered situation in Egypt, the potential threat of a radically changed regional environment also subsided. Thus, the Saudi aims of protecting the national interests and keeping the regional dynamics intact while ensuring the security and stability of the kingdom were fulfilled. However, with the evolving nature of sociopolitical life in the Arab world in general, and Saudi Arabia in particular, the monarchy needs to develop a nuanced and sustainable approach toward dealing with these recurring issues. It is important that a steady process of reform is initiated to satisfy people’s aspirations and an institutionalized foreign policy is developed to deal with the changing regional environment. A failure at any of the two can pose a threat to the kingdom’s stability and regional standing in the long run.