ISN: Saudi Arabia's Looming Security Challenges

Saudi Arabia has long looked to the US as a major guarantor of its security. However, the fundamental dynamics of this partnership are set to change. Samir Tata considers some of the threats that Saudi Arabia is likely to face in the future and how it may choose to respond to them.

The cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s national security strategy has been the de facto alliance with the United States that has been in place since 1932. The basic bargain was, that in return for US control over access to Saudi oil, Washington would guarantee the political, military and economic security of the kingdom. Over the next decade, however, Saudi Arabia and the United States will have to transform the nature of their security arrangement from that of an informal ‘client-patron’ relationship to a more formal - albeit limited - partnership. For Washington, the key drivers of the new partnership will be quite simple. The US wants to deny its adversaries access to the Persian Gulf’s energy resources and streamline its security commitments to reflect an era of fiscal and economic austerity. For Saudi Arabia, things are a little more complicated.  MORE