Saudi Arabia and the New Strategic Landscape

In the new post–cold war strategic landscape of the Middle East, the United States’ most important Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, plays a key role. The will and the resources of Saudi Arabia are badly needed if the Iranian menace is to have a worthwhile regional challenger. Joshua Teitelbaum has studied Saudi Arabia, following the twists of its history and its strategic choices, throughout his academic career. In this work, he evaluates Saudi foreign policy in the Persian Gulf and in the Arab-Israeli peace process and provides a shrewd assessment of the Saudi-U.S. relationship.

Teitelbaum debunks the traditional view of Saudi foreign policy that emphasizes the Saudi concern with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and explains how the true concern of Arabia’s rulers is the ideological battle that has been opened up by Iran’s push into Arab affairs. He tells why U.S. policy makers should be encouraged to cement the alliance with Saudi Arabia by resolutely addressing the Iranian threat to Saudi domestic politics and Riyadh's regional position. Saudi Arabia and the New Strategic Landscape is a detailed look into the way the Saudi rulers juggle the pressures and claims that intrude on their domain.

Joshua Teitelbaum is a senior fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies and principal research associate at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and a visiting scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, both at Stanford University. A noted scholar on Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, he is author of Holier Than Thou: Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Opposition and editor of Political Liberalization in the Persian Gulf (Columbia University Press, 2009).