Saudi Arabia’s regional space-shaping: Making or unmaking a region?

Abstract

Since the US-led intervention in Iraq in 2003, the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel and the 2010-2011 uprisings, political orders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have undergone dramatic transformations and the already delicate regional equilibrium has been profoundly shaken. Adding to a gradual process of disengagement on behalf of the US, regional powers have sought to fill the political vacuum left in countries experiencing a transition that deviated towards widespread insecurity and civil conflict, such as Syria, Libya and Yemen. Among them, the chapter analyses Saudi Arabia's renewed role in the MENA region and shows how this has played out with reference to fighting terrorism. In doing so, the chapter argues that, despite a more decisive stance at the regional level, the Kingdom simultaneously operates in a space defined by nationalism, religion and sectarianism. As such, the capacity and prospect of Saudi Arabia's regional policy is undermined by overlapping and at times competing visions of what makes a region.