The Modern Geopolitics of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's national strategy is challenged by its austere past and potential future. The kingdom seeks alignment with a regional and global order to achieve middle power status while preventing internal divisions spurred by the very reforms it is using to walk that path. It is vulnerable to geopolitical shocks and internal erosion of consensus, especially the latter. Riyadh's monarchy must manage these imperatives effectively to avoid a return to a divided, foreign-controlled state, mirroring its 20th-century beginning....