The Endurance of an Asymmetrical Alliance - A Case Study of the U.S.-Saudi Alliance

Abstract: Despite that alliance formation commonly happen when states share mutual interests and like-mindedness, it is possible to find alliances, where the states promote radically different political, normative, and cultural characteristics. Such an alliance is observed in the case of Saudi Arabia and the United States, which subsequently have endured. The following research will thus elaborate on how the Saudi-American alliance have endured throughout, despite their radical differences. To examine the endurance of the Saudi-American alliance, this research has conducted a case study and used Walter Carlsnaes Foreign Policy model. The research has concludingly found that the alliance has endured due to a variety of factors such as economic trade, regional instability, and security, that consistently has persisted throughout. Despite the American role as a hegemon and the changing administrations throughout the endurance, it has been argued that the longevity of the relation has contributed to the consistency of the factors mentioned above. This is evident in the unpredictability in terms of the region, instability, and insecurity that opposes threats to the U.S., and economic trade relations which have discouraged the U.S. from leaving the alliance.