Saudi Arabia: A Regional Actor in the context of Special Relations

During the two past decades, Saudi government has gradually left aside its passive foreign policy based on maintaining the status quo under any condition and with any cost at the regional level from its strategic vision. The performance of Saudi government since the official and unofficial end of two Cold Wars, and especially its behavior regarding social movements in the Arab world shows clearly the substitution of passive policies with proactive ones and upsetting the status quo when it is justified. The question posed by this article is that which imperatives or factors have led Saudi Arab is to play actively in the region and to try to influence the equation of power within regional countries. To answer this question, the author advances the hypothesis that following the decline of Arab Cold War in the region and the end of the Cold War at the level of international system removing existential threats that Saudi Arabia was formerly exposed to, this country has pursued the policy of promoting its political influence and values, facilitated by the growth of social movements in the Arab world during the past two decades.