Browsing by Author "Rahikainen, Heikki"

Saudi Arabia has been an important ‘silent’ actor in the Middle East for decades. Despite this, the kingdom is active in the background of politics in the Middle East where it has traditionally striven to influence indirectly. During the last couple of years, the role of Saudi Arabia has been brought up by the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. This relates to more direct action from the kingdom itself but also to the changes caused by the Arab spring and the succession of the new king. The geopolitical rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has dominated the events of the Middle East in the 21st century, whereby the region is divided into camps managed by the two countries. The partial withdrawal of the United States and the strengthening of Iran's position have forced Saudi Arabia to switch from a background to a more active role in protecting its interests. In my master’s thesis I will do a literature review of Saudi Arabia’s view on the geopolitics of the Middle East and its role in the area’s conflicts after the Cold War. I will also analyse the country’s comprehension of the society of states in the Middle East. The theoretical framework consists of geopolitics and the English school which is also known as the theory of international society. The main conflicts to be investigated are the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the Syrian conflict. I will also include the Arab spring and the Yemeni civil war in my analysis since they have an important role in the geopolitics of Saudi Arabia. The geopolitics of Saudi Arabia has two important objectives: to ensure the survival of the Al Saud dynasty and to control the influence of Iran. Saudi Arabia strives for its goals by maintaining a prevailing order or at least curbing the effects of change. The role of Saudi Arabia in the conflicts in the Middle East has developed from a silent and cautious oil diplomacy to an active and militaristic foreign policy. Before the Arab Spring, the geopolitics of Saudi Arabia were strongly diplomatic, as the kingdom wanted to avoid the crises escalating into full-scale wars in the neighbouring countries. The actual direct military action has been less common although during the last years, the threshold for its use has decreased. However, Saudi Arabia favours proxies as the main promoters of its interests. Saudi Arabia has two significant ways to influence geopolitics in the Middle East: the economic capacity to support its proxies and allies, as well as the ideological influence through which it seeks to become a defender and leader of the Sunnah world. Sectarianism has been one of the most important pillars of Saudi Arabia's 21st century geopolitics, where it politicizes religious identities to promote its own interests. Many of the conflicts in the Middle East have become sectarianized, as a result of the actions of both Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, this policy has significant disadvantages as the sectarianisation of conflicts will lengthen their duration. At the regional level the success of the Saudi Arabian geopolitics has been somewhat ambiguous: for the moment it has ensured its regime’s survival indefinitely while on the other hand it has not been able to curb the growing Iranian influence in the Middle East. The actions of Saudi Arabia in the conflicts around the Middle East have varied as the backgrounds and causes of the conflicts differ. It is possible to recognize three simplified phases from its actions. The first phase is diplomacy and dialogue through which it is also possible to justify later harsher actions. The second phase is the use of proxies and/or military intervention. The third phase depends on whether or not the conflict is in favour of Saudi Arabia. The examined major conflicts have not been as beneficial to Saudi Arabia as they have been to its worst competitor, Iran. As a result to this, the third phase is the maintaining of the mayhem in the conflict area. However, there is no interest in maintaining the disorder if the conflict is resolved in the favour of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia sees the Middle East as a pluralist state community where the dimension of realism is always present. According to this idea, states recognize each other as members of the community and obey the rules that are presumed by the current state of the international relations. However, violations of the sovereignty of other states pose a threat to the community. At present, solidarity emanating from Saudi Arabia remains impossible as the current geopolitics prevent the kingdom from leaving its strategic calculations. At the moment, there is nothing suggesting the fact that this situation would change in the near future.