SECURITY STRATEGIES OF SAUDI ARABIA AS A REGIONAL POWER IN A UNIPOLAR SYSTEM 2000-2010

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the security strategies of Saudi Arabia, based on the structure and characteristics of the international system, both the country's relations with the superpower in the unipolar system and the alliance relations that the country established as a regional power. In addition, the features that the State possessed due to its conditions and the effects of these features on security strategies were explained. In our study, in which we seeked answers to questions such as “Were Saudi Arabia's alliances power or security centered?”, “Did internal or external threats determine Saudi Arabia's security strategy?”, “In which area did Saudi Arabia prioritize the struggle when faced with its internal and external threats at the same time?”, “What was Saudi Arabia's overall security strategy?” and the omnialignment tendencies of the country between 2000-2010 were examined due to its competing allegiances, non-inclusive legitimacy, rentier state economy and interrelated threats.

Keywords; Saudi Arabia, regional power, security strategy, Middle East, omnialignment