Saudi Arabia

This USIP event examined the complex nexus between democratic change and U.S. security interests, with a principal focus on Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Yemen.

This event examined the complex nexus between democratic change and U.S. security interests, with a principal focus on Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Yemen.

This Special Report is third in a series on "Iraq and Its Neighbors," examining the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia and Riyadh's policies toward Baghdad.

This Working Paper is the culmination of the work of the Study Group on Reform and Security.

Iraq’s Persian Gulf neighbors supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in order to preserve the status quo--a weak and self-absorbed Iraq--rather than to impose a new one. However, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and its aftermath have not brought stability to the Gulf States as much as they have shifted the most serious challenges from external threats (of a hostile Baghdad) to internal threats (the threat of conflict spillover from Iraq).

A new USIP report examines online discourse in the Arab world and emerging trends of the blogosphere.

Since 2004, USIP's "Iraq and its Neighbors" initiative has sponsored track II dialogues and ongoing research on relations between Iraq and its six immediate neighbors. As part of this work, the Institute--in partnership with the Stimson Center--sponsored a bipartisan, independent, and unofficial Study Mission to Syria and Saudi Arabia in mid-January 2009. The delegation met with a wide variety of leading political figures, businesspeople, NGOs and foreign policy experts in both countries, including President Bashar Assad of Syria and Prince Turki al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia.

On June 7^th, Lebanon held its long-anticipated parliamentary elections, a critical next step in Lebanon's post-civil war transition. While many observers underscore the potential repercussions of a Hezbollah-dominated March 8^th bloc win, the margin of victory will be slim regardless of which side wins.

USIP's Daniel Brumberg joined a panel of guest speakers, including Congressman Keith Ellison, for a lively discussion of USIP's new volume "Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World."