Dannreuther, R. 2024. Saudi Arabia and the UAE: Bandwagoning, balancing and hedging. in: Benjamin Houghton, B. and Houghton, K.A. (ed.) China, Russia, and the USA in the Middle East: The Contest for Supremacy Routledge.
| Chapter title | Saudi Arabia and the UAE: Bandwagoning, balancing and hedging |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dannreuther, R. |
| Editors | Benjamin Houghton, B. and Houghton, K.A. |
| Abstract | Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have demonstrated a significant shift in their foreign policy orientation since the revolutionary turmoil of the Arab Spring in the early 2010s. Both countries have asserted a more ambitious and independent foreign policy that seeks to shape rather than simply react to political developments in the region. Interventions in Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya, as well as sanctions against Qatar, are evidence of this new proactive foreign policy. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have, at the same time, also shown greater independence from their principal extra-regional ally, the USA, and an increased willingness to engage with Russia and China. This chapter seeks to explain the reasons for this more visible engagement with multiple extra-regional powers. The argument is that, though this approach includes strategic hedging, it cannot simply be reduced to this, as there is evidence of multiple interconnected strategies, including bandwagoning and balancing as well as hedging. This variation in differing forms of alignment is itself a reflection of the complexity of the layered multipolar systems that define the Middle East region. |
| Book title | China, Russia, and the USA in the Middle East: The Contest for Supremacy |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Publication dates | |
| Published in print | 2024 |
| Published | 01 Dec 2023 |
| ISBN | 9781032444079 |
| 9781003372011 | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003372011-10 |
| File | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |