Saudi Arabian Foreign Relations

Diplomacy and Mediation in Conflict Resolution

René Rieger

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138678507
• eBook ISBN: 9781317193050
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In recent decades, Saudi Arabia has committed itself to playing the part of mediator in intra-national and international conflicts in the greater Middle East region. Examples include the two Saudi-introduced Arab Peace Initiatives of 1982 and 2002, mediation attempts between Algeria and Morocco in the West Sahara conflict, Iraq and Syria during the Iran-Iraq War and Iran and Iraq towards the end of their military conflict.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Relations provides a new insight to current studies on Saudi foreign policy and mediation in international relations. The book offers a detailed analysis of Saudi Arabia's intermediary role in the intra-state conflicts in Yemen, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and the successes and limitations of each. Additionally, it provides an updated examination of Saudi Arabia's role towards resolution of the larger Arab-Israeli conflict.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Relations contributes to a far deeper understanding of Saudi foreign policy, and therefore will be of great interest to students and scholars of Middle East Politics and International Relations.

1
Introduction

For decades Western governments, such as those of the United States, the United Kingdom or Germany, have regularly emphasized the importance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a strategic partner and anchor of economic and regional stability. No political disagreement or conflict of interests has permanently strained political or economic relations between key Western states and the Saudi leadership. However, there are few states whose foreign policies Western media and societies meet with as much reflexive aversion and disapproval as that of Saudi Arabia. The 1973/74 oil embargo and the continuous refusal to enter into a peace treaty with Israel are widely considered proof of the Kingdom’s “anti-Semitism” (as Arabs are Semites as well, more adequate terms would be “anti-Judaism” or “anti-Zionism”); the support of the Afghan mujahidin in the 1980s and the Taliban in the decade that followed is seen as ostensible evidence of the Saudi leadership’s desire to export religious and cultural extremism; and the alleged Saudi “counterrevolution” in the course of the Arab uprisings is taken as the ultimate demonstration of both the Saudi leadership’s anti-democratic, sectarian campaign and its aspiration for uncontested leadership in the Arab world. Whenever Saudi Arabia becomes active in foreign policy, the natural reaction of Western media, societies, and parts of their political elites seems to be that of skepticism and cynical rejection. Any Saudi international action is seen as another piece of the puzzle of the Kingdom’s alleged perfidious plan to impose its fundamentalist “Wahhabi ideology” on societies beyond its borders. Accordingly, whenever Saudi Arabia endeavored to mediate in international and intra-national conflicts, Western observers inevitably questioned the Kingdom’s motivation and speculated on its true objectives.

Setting incorrect preconceptions straight is a difficult task, particularly when they have been burnt deeply into the minds of people. One is destined to draw significant criticism for swimming against the current instead of repeating and adding to the established narrative. Nonetheless, by taking a fresh analytical view, the book at hand challenges the biased picture most Westerners, and indeed many Middle Easterners as well, have of Saudi foreign policy. Based on a general analysis of Saudi foreign policy objectives, the study will mainly focus on Saudi Arabia’s role as a mediator in international relations.

Over the past decades, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly committed itself as a mediator in intra-national and international conflicts in the greater Middle East region. Examples range from the two Saudi-introduced Arab Peace Initiatives of 1982 and 2002 to mediation attempts between Algeria and Morocco in the West Sahara conflict, Iraq and Syria during the Iran–Iraq War, Iran and Iraq towards the end of their military conflict, and different factions in the intra-national conflicts in Afghanistan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and Yemen.

The analysis identifies the Saudi policy of conflict mediation as a crucial element in the Kingdom’s foreign policy, analyzes the motivation and objectives behind this approach, and traces Saudi Arabia’s involvement and success in the following case studies: the Arab–Israeli conflict, the intra-Palestinian conflict, the Lebanese civil war, and the internal conflict in Yemen since 2011.

The study is guided by the following assumptions: first, Saudi Arabia has a vital interest in political and economic stability in the Gulf and the greater Middle East; second, the Kingdom considers intra-state and interstate conflicts in its environment as dangers to the subregional and regional stability and sources of threat to its national security, domestic stability, and economic prosperity; third, Saudi Arabia uses primarily its diplomatic, political, and economic influence as well as its standing as the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to resolve these conflicts; fourth, Saudi Arabia often favors conflict reconciliation over a one-sided support of a politically or ideologically close conflict faction; and fifth, Saudi Arabia’s mediation policy fits into the Kingdom’s larger foreign policy concept that usually strives for the realization of the country’s interests through conciliation rather than confrontation.

There are numerous studies on both Saudi foreign policy¹ and mediation in international relations.² However, the book at hand is first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the integral role that the theme of mediation plays in Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy.³ Moreover, this study breaks new academic ground as it features a detailed analysis of Saudi Arabia’s intermediary role in the intra-state conflicts in Yemen, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. In addition, the analysis provides an updated in-depth examination of Saudi Arabia’s role towards resolution of the larger Arab–Israeli conflict. In doing so, this book identifies the success and limits of previous Saudi mediation policy and, most importantly, it contributes to a better understanding of Saudi foreign policy in general.

To begin with, I will suggest a theoretical framework that explains the nature of international relations and the genesis of foreign policy making by borrowing realist, structuralist, constructivist, and pluralist assumptions. This foreign policy analysis approach, while to the largest extent universally applicable, is tuned particularly for the study of the foreign policies of Middle Eastern states. Based on this theoretical framework as well as on an analysis of Saudi domestic, economic, and foreign policy interests, material and non-material capabilities – read as an advancement of the realist understanding of the term “power” – as well as challenges to state and regime security, the chapter identifies the fundamentals of Saudi foreign policy. Emphasis will be laid on Saudi Arabia’s interest in subregional (Gulf) and regional (greater Middle East) stability as well as the Kingdom’s preference to strive towards these ends through diplomatic means.

In this context, the foreign policy tool of conflict mediation will be introduced as an important element in the Kingdom’s foreign policy approach. The fact that Saudi Arabia is a politically and economically potent regional power as well as both the cradle of Islam and the origin of all Arabs has given the Kingdom the necessary influence as well as religious and cultural authority and recognition as a mediator in the larger Middle East.

Following this general overview, the analysis will focus on four pivotal case studies of Saudi foreign mediation policy.

1.1 Saudi Arabia and the Arab–Israeli conflict

This chapter traces the Saudi stance towards the Arab–Israeli conflict and the efforts the Kingdom has been undertaking over the past decades to bring about a just and peaceful conflict resolution. It will be pointed out that Saudi Arabia made considerable efforts, repeatedly taking significant political risks, to change the unconstructive policy stances of both other Arab parties and the United States. At the same time, Saudi Arabia showed significant flexibility without ever compromising the greater Arab and Muslim causes. The focus of the chapter will be on the two Saudi-sponsored Arab Peace Initiatives of 1982 and 2002. In this context, I will analyze the motivation behind the underlying Saudi proposals – the Fahd Plan of 1981 and the Abdullah Plan of 2002 – and point out the efforts Saudi Arabia made to get the support of the vast majority of Arab states for their initiatives. The analysis shows that in both cases regional and supra-regional developments forced Saudi Arabia to abandon its usual behind-closed-doors mentality in foreign policy making and capitalize publicly on its regional power status in an attempt to reach its policy objectives.

1.2 The 2007 Makkah Agreement

This chapter analyzes Saudi Arabia’s attempts to bring about reconciliation between the two major Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas. The focus of the analysis is on the Saudi government’s efforts in the run-up to the Makkah Accords of February 2007. Saudi Arabia’s attempts to mediate between the two conflicting parties were motivated by both the high value the Kingdom assigns to Arab consensus and the conviction that the realization of the rights of the Palestinian people requires Palestinian solidarity. Alienation in Iran–Hamas relations would have been a highly welcomed side effect of an intra-Palestinian rapprochement. Hamas’ breach of the agreement, which the Saudi leadership attributed largely to Iranian influence, greatly disappointed the Saudi government and ruined any trust Riyadh had in the Palestinian faction’s word. As is the case of the larger Arab–Israeli conflict, a resolution of the intra-Palestinian conflict has been taking a backseat among Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy objectives since the outbreak of the Arab uprisings in 2011.

1.3 The road to the 1989 Taif Agreement

This chapter analyzes the intentions behind as well as the mechanisms and the eventual success of Saudi Arabia’s mediation efforts to bring an end to the Lebanese Civil War (1975–89). Although it failed to produce a sustainable and lasting conflict resolution, the Taif Agreement is to be seen as one of Saudi Arabia’s greatest mediation successes. With the support of the governments of Algeria and Morocco, Saudi Arabia was mainly responsible for both assembling Lebanese parliamentarians from almost all political and religious factions and developing a proposal that was later to the largest extent accepted as the final agreement. Beside a genuine interest in a termination of the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, the Saudi government was particularly interested in the restoration of that country’s political stability and independence. Reflecting an altered social structure, the Saudi-backed Taif Agreement redistributed political power among Lebanon’s religious and sectarian factions, strengthening both Sunni and Shiite influence. This clearly contradicts the widespread narrative according to which Saudi Arabia generally seeks to weaken Shiite elements in the region.

1.4 Saudi Arabia and the GCC transition plan for Yemen

This chapter scrutinizes Saudi mediation efforts initiated in the spring of 2011 in an attempt to stabilize the political order in Yemen in the face of escalating political conflicts. For strategic reasons, Saudi Arabia decided not to act as a mediator on its own behalf. Instead, the Kingdom worked towards the implementation of a mediation plan under the umbrella of the GCC. Understating the pivotal roles played by the United States and Saudi Arabia in developing and implementing the mediation initiative was meant to improve its chances for success. From the Saudi perspective, the involvement of the GCC and its member states had also the advantage of sharing responsibility for the success of the mediation efforts. For Saudi Arabia, the stability of Yemen is a matter of the greatest significance. The Kingdom’s security and its economic and political stability are vulnerable to developments in its neighbor state. In early 2011, the Saudi leadership was particularly concerned that the northern Yemeni Houthi rebels as well as Al Qaeda and its affiliates would take advantage of the destabilization of the Yemeni central government and extend their zones of influence. Hence, Saudi Arabia undertook great efforts to stabilize Yemen’s political order by pressing long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh to abdicate power and introducing a two-year transitional phase that provided inter alia for the replacement of President Saleh by a consensus candidate, the establishment of a power-sharing government as well as a genuinely inclusive National Dialogue. However, the analysis will also reveal that beside its role as a conflict mediator, the Saudi leadership had been an indirect conflict party from the start of the negotiation process, and, in the spring of 2015, it even launched a military intervention in the intra-Yemeni conflict.

Notes

1 For example, F. Gregory Gause III., “The Foreign Policy of Saudi Arabia,” in The Foreign Policies of Middle East States, 2nd edn., ed. Raymond A. Hinnebusch and Anoushiravan Ehteshami (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2014); Nadav Safran, Saudi Arabia: Ceaseless Quest for Security (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985); Gerd Nonneman, “Determinants and Patterns of Saudi Foreign Policy: ‘Omnibalancing’ and ‘Relative Autonomy’ in Multiple Environments,” in Saudi Arabia in the Balance: Political Economy, Society, Foreign Affairs, eds. Paul Aarts and Gerd Nonneman (New York: New York University Press, 2005); J. E. Peterson, Saudi Arabia and the Illusion of Security (London: The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2002); William B. Quandt, Saudi Arabia in the 1980s: Foreign Policy, Security, and Oil (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1981).

2 For example, Jacob Bercovitch and Scott Sigmund Gartner, eds., International Conflict Mediation: New Approaches and Findings (Milton Park and New York: Routledge, 2009); Jacob Bercovitch, ed., Resolving International Conflicts: The Theory and Practice of Mediation (Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Riener, 1996); Jacob Bercovitch and Jeffrey Z. Rubin, eds., Mediation in International Relations: Multiple Approaches to Conflict Management (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992); Marieke Kleiboer, The Multiple Realities of International Mediation (Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner, 1998); Thomas Princen, Intermediaries in International Conflict (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992); I. William Zartman, Essays on Theory and Practice (Milton Park and New York: Routledge, 2008); I. William Zartman and Saadia Touval, “International Mediation in the Post-Cold War Era,” in Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict, eds. Chester A. Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson (Washington, D.C.: Institute of Peace Press, 1996); I. William Zartman and Saadia Touval, “International Mediation: Conflict Resolution and Power Politics,” Journal of Social Issues 41, no. 2 (1985).

3 There is a relatively recent article focusing on the issue that gives a brief overview of past Saudi mediation attempts. However, besides its undeniable merits, the article’s analysis of the motivation behind this element of Saudi foreign policy in particular and the Kingdom’s foreign policy objectives in general omits some relevant aspects and displays a noticeable anti-Saudi government bias. Mehran Kamrava, “Mediation and Saudi Foreign Policy,” Orbis 57, no. 1 (2013).

References

Bercovitch, Jacob, ed. Resolving International Conflicts: The Theory and Practice of Mediation. Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Riener, 1996.

Bercovitch, Jacob and Scott Sigmund Gartner, eds. International Conflict Mediation: New Approaches and Findings. Milton Park and New York: Routledge, 2009.

Bercovitch, Jacob and Jeffrey Z. Rubin, eds. Mediation in International Relations: Multiple Approaches to Conflict Management. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

Gause, F. Gregory, III. “The Foreign Policy of Saudi Arabia.” In The Foreign Policies of M...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Saudi foreign policy: interests, options, and strategies
• 3 Saudi Arabia and the Arab–Israeli conflict
• 4 The 2007 Makkah Agreement
• 5 The road to the 1989 Taif Agreement
• 6 Saudi Arabia and the GCC transition plan for Yemen
• 7 Conclusion
• Index