Volume L – Number 2Usjid U. Hameed
Abstract: For decades, scholars and practitioners have debated whether the Saudi-Iranian rivalry is primarily motivated by realist concerns or constructivist concerns. This article utilizes the Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) approach, an agency-based approach in which concerns regarding relative power and ideology are weighted with attention given to domestic decision-making factors, to argue that the rivalry is motivated by realist, constructivist, and domestic concerns. The author first examines regional history with a focus on the Sunni-Shia Schism and the Iranian Revolution to illustrate the origins of Tehran’s anti-elitist, constructivist motivations. Next, the FPA approach is employed to discuss the Iran Nuclear Deal to show how Riyadh consistently operates from a realist perspective while Tehran operates from a realist and constructivist perspective with attention given to its domestic concerns. Finally, FPA is used to explore the proxy conflict in Iraq to show how Saudi Arabia’s realist concerns and Iran’s realist and constructivist concerns are exhibited in neighboring states. With FPA, scholars and practioners will gain a better understanding of the Saudi-Iranian rivalry and will thus be better positioned to manage it to work towards a more secure and stable Middle East.
About the Author: Usjid Hameed works as the Public Affairs Coordinator for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Columbus, Ohio chapter and graduated with honors from Towson University in 2017. He would like to thank Professor Joseph R. Clark for his assistance with an earlier version with his research.
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