Saudi-US Relations and their Transformations: Risks and Probabilities

Authors

  • Author

  • Mohamed Elmenshawy

Keywords:

Mohammed bin Salman, Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia, United States

Abstract

​This study explores the concept of a traditional balance of power based on realism, which, for several reasons, is unsuitable to explain the relations between the US and the Gulf States. First, competition between the main regional powers, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, is not characterized of direct confrontation, but rather manifests through proxy interference in civil war-torn countries (Syria, Yemen, and Iraq). Second, since the greatest threat to the region that has resulted from this competition is an unintended escalation, the final endgame must be collective security and stability, not a balance of power. Third, balance of power in the conventional sense is unrealistic given the actual quantitative and qualitative conventional military superiority of the GCC countries compared to Iran's military capacity.

Author Biography

  • Mohamed Elmenshawy
    Egyptian Researcher and Writer, Live in Washington.

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Published

2019-09-01

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Issue

Vol. 7 No. 040 (2019): Issue 040

Section

Studies

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Copyright (c) 2019 Mohamed Elmenshawy (Author)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.