Neoclassical Realism: A Framework for Assessing Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Policy toward Islamic Awakening

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Political Science, Humanities, Ayatollah Ozma Borujerdi, Iran

Abstract

Social uprising in the Middle East and North Africa that started in late 2010 has affected on foreign policy of the states of this region. Also, this development has influenced on Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy, as one of the most important actors in the Middle East. The Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy orientation toward the uprising was supporting to collapsing states in Libya and Syria on the one hand, and military intervention in Bahrain and Yemen for maintaining their regimes on the other hand. This orientation on Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy is caused to this question: «how the paradoxical foreign policy of Saudi Arabia toward Islamic Awakening is noticeable?» To answer this question we use Neoclassical Realism theory and examine the role of external and internal factors in shaping Saudi Arabian foreign policy, simultaneously. This article has been conducted using descriptive-analytical method.

Keywords

References

۱. توال، فرانسوا (۱۳۸۴). ژئوپلیتیک شیعه، ترجمه کتایون باصر، چ دوم، تهران: ویستار.
۲. لاوسون، استفانی، (۱۳۹۵). نظریه‌های روابط بین‌الملل: رویکردهای متعارض به سیاست جهانی، ترجمۀ عبدالمجید سیفی، تهران، مخاطب.
۳. دان، تیم، استیو اسمیت و میلجا کورکی (۱۳۹۶). نظریه‌های روابط بین‌الملل، ترجمۀ عبدالمجید سیفی و شهرزاد مفتوح، تهران: میزان.
۴. سیفی، عبدالمجید؛ ناصر پورحسن (۱۳۹۵). «موازنۀ همه‌جانبه و سیاست خارجی عربستان سعودی در قبال بیداری اسلامی»، فصلنامۀ تحقیقات سیاسی و بین‌المللی، ش ۲۶.
5. Abu Al-Ainain, Tareq (2013). "Egypt's Brotherhood Strives for 'Caliphate' at Expense of Security" Al-Monitor. June 2, http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/06/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-caliphate-national-security.html.
6. Ayoob, Mohammed (2012). "The Arab Spring: Its Geostrategic Significance." Middle East PolicyXIX, no. 3.
7. Bastaoros, Y. (2015). The Saudi reaction to the Arab Revolts: The Paradoxical Saudi Policy towards the Arab Spring, Cairo: American University of in Cairo.
8. Bazzi, Mohamad (2014). "Saudi Arabia Is Playing Chicken with Its Oil" http://www.cnbc.com/id/102271857.
9. Black, Ian (2014). "Arab States Withdraw Ambassadors from Qatar in Protest at 'interference'" The Guardian. March 5. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/arab-states-qatar-ithdraw-ambassadors.
10. Echagüe, Ana (2014). "Emboldened Yet Vulnerable: The Changing Foreign Policies of Qatar and Saudi Arabia" http://fride.org/publication/1206/emboldened-yet-vulnerable:-the-changing-foreign-policies-of-qatar-and-saudi-arabia.
11. El-Labbad, M. (2014). "Egypt: A "Regional Reference" in the Middle East." In Regional Powers in the Middle East: New Constellations After the Arab Revolts, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
12. Jones, Toby Craig (2011). "Saudi Arabia versus the Arab Spring" Raritan: A Quarterly Review,31, no. 2, 56. http://raritanquarterly.rutgers.edu/files/article-pdfs/toby-jones-raritan-fall-2011.pdf.
13. https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/investors/bp-third-quarter-2017-results.pdf
14.https://www.iiss.org/en/militarybalanceblog/blogsections/201590c/february-8272/2014-top-defence-spenders-bb5d.
15. Lobell, S. & Ripsman, N. and Taliaferro, J. (2009). Neoclassical Realism, the State, and Foreign Policy, New York: Cambridge University Press.
16. Peel, Michael (2012).  "Saudi Arabia Pledges $3.25bn Aid to Yemen" Financial Times. May 23. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/85c1ba8c-a4df-11e1-9908-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Ux6eA4H6.
 
17. Rajendran, Giri (2015). "Defence Budgets - Devil in the Detail." The International Institute for Strategic Studies. February 11. 
 
18. Rieger, René (2013). "In Search of Stability: Saudi Arabia and the Arab Spring" GRC Research Papers, No.7.
 
19. Rose, Gidon (1998). "Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy" World Politics, Vol. 51, no. 1.
20. Schweller, R. (2006). Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
21. Taliaferro, Jeffrey W. (2006). "State Building for Future Wars: Neoclassical Realism and the Resource-Extractive State" Security Studies Vol.15, no. 3.
POLITICAL QUARTERLY
Volume 50, Issue 2
July 2020
Pages 611-627

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 02 January 2018
  • Revise Date: 17 April 2018
  • Accept Date: 17 April 2018

Share

How to cite

Statistics