Public Diplomacy in Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy

Public Diplomacy is used by Modern States to influence public opinion as well as the elites to ensure their national interests. In Southwest Asia, Saudi Arabia broadly uses public diplomacy in its policy making and to influence and shape public opinion in this regards. This paper tries to answer this question: How does Saudi Arabia use public diplomacy to fulfill its foreign policy goals and objectives? In fact, Riyadh proclaiming itself as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, takes advantage of the Hajj, religious schools, mass media including “Al-Arabia”, social and non-governmental institutions and organizations such as Muslim World League (Rabita al-Alam al-Islamic) and International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) as public diplomacy tools to confirm and consolidate its status as the leader of the Arab and Muslim world. This culture and identity based Saudi’s policy which has been responsive in some geographical zones is justified through constructivism theory in this papers.