United States-Saudi Arabia Relations: Is Saudi Arabia A Useful Ally? Research Proposal Example

For many years, Saudi Arabia has been an indispensable ally to the United States of America. However, with the recent various societal constraints that the Middle Eastern country faces, its relationship with United States—the most powerful in the West—becomes controversial and subject to criticism to citizens as well as to other countries. With the current conflict in Saudi Arabia, particularly regarding human rights (Schiavenza, 2015), its political relationship with United States becomes questioned and generally discouraged. However, the continuing alliance between the two countries says something about Saudi Arabia: it is still indispensable to the Western giant.
Established as a country with absolute monarchy at the end of 18th century, Saudi Arabia was initially ruled by the Al Saud family which remains in power up to this very day (Blanchard, 2015). During its first years, Saudi Arabia remained a country largely unknown to the Western world until a significant discovery in its lands made its potential to be powerful known to all—particularly to USA. USA, largely considered as the most powerful country in the West, has been continuously seeking resources by which it can sustain a healthy economy and supply of domestic needs—one of which is oil. Acknowledging the importance of oil, USA has successfully established techniques that will collect such in amounts enough for the country’s self-sustainability. And during one operation of oil-collection in the 1930s, geologists of the Standard Oil of California discovered gargantuan deposits of crude oil in the eastern shores of Saudi Arabia (Jones, 2012). This discovery marks USA’s intention to establish a lasting alliance with Saudi Arabia. After the World War II, United States under the administration of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt began to acknowledge and realize the importance of oil for sustaining the country. After such realization, USA, led by Pres. F. D. Roosevelt, officially ventured out on a mutual relationship with Saudi Arabia in 1943 (Ottaway, 1943). In 1945, Pres. F. D. Roosevelt hosted Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch, King Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud, on Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake aboard the USS Quincy (Jones, 2012)—a gesture that formally marks the relationship of two countries. Soon after the exchange of welcomes between the two leaders, the framework and context of their alliance was immediately laid out. Being a small country with great resource for a universal commodity, Saudi Arabia became the target of many attempts for colonization and usurpation of power (Jones, 2012; Blanchard, 2015). For this, Saudi Arabia became more open with the alliance offered by United States, believing that if they can provide the Western country with the commodity they need, they can expect something in return, and in this case, it was protection (Jones, 2012; Blanchard, 2015). Starting out small and vulnerable but amassing a great wealth of natural resource, it is not a surprise that Saudi Arabia was in great need of protection and strategic policymaking—necessities which the USA was willing and able to give.
Since the beginning of their alliance, Saudi Arabia and USA maintained a healthy mutualism with the former providing oil and the latter providing protection and military assistance (Jones, 2012; Blanchard, 2015; Schiavenza, 2015; Ottaway, 2009). With fears stemming from the possibility that the House of Saud would be harmed and forced out of throne, King Abdulaziz naturally turned to alliances with Western countries, including Britain and USA (Jones, 2012; Blanchard, 2015; Ottaway, 2009). Particularly seeing the ruling royal families of Hashemite in Jordan as the most dangerous threats and acknowledging Britain’s support for them, Saudi Arabia bravely ventured on an agreement with USA despite being concerned with many uncertainties (Ottoway, 2009). After a meeting between the US Asst. Secretary of State, George McGhee, and King Abdulaziz took place in 1950, a memorandum stressing Saudi Arabia’s entitlement to USA’s military support was created (Ottoway, 2009). USA pledged allegiance to Saudi Arabia, ensuring to protect the country in the event that an imminent danger and threat arise (Ottoway, 2009). With this kind of support and aid from USA, Saudi Arabia became more strategic in battles against other countries—an improvement that brought significant benefits including the success at dealing with the Hashemite threat (Ottoway, 2009). As a prize, Saudi Arabia “had given an exclusive oil concession to the American companies” (Ottoway, 2009, p. 2). Furthermore, in what seems to be a demonstration of power and importance, Saudi Arabia willingly permitted the USA to utilize and build the airbase at Dammam in an attempt to make other countries realize how important alliance and support for Saudi Arabia were (Ottoway, 2009). With this, USA was able to establish military bases on Saudi Arabia—largely influencing their military strategies and potentials (Ottoway, 2009; Jones, 2012; Blanchard, 2015).
While the impact of US-Saudi Arabia relationship on Saudi Arabia’s defense is clear, the same thing regarding oil is about to be discussed. Saudi oil was transported into USA via a 1000-mile pipeline that runs through Jordan and the Golan Heights to Sidon in Lebanon and then travelled to the Mediterranean (Ottoway, 2009). USA managed to maintain a healthy relationship with Saudi Arabia and a useful and steady supply of their oil until the October War in 1973 (Jones, 2012; Ottoway, 2009). USA, also supporting Saudi Arabia’s enemy country Israel, was reported supporting the Israel by re-equipping their military during the said war (Jones, 2012). Such move infuriated the Saudi Arabian so much that they decided to call an embargo of oil export to United States, yielding serious problem for the country (Jones, 2012; Ottoway, 2009). USA realized during this time more than ever the importance of Saudi Arabia on oil importation (Ottoway, 2009). However, USA was still able to come up with the strategy in order to win back Saudi Arabia’s oil supply on them. USA opted to supply arms and weapons to Saudi Arabia in exchange for oil (Jones, 2012). Furthermore, USA also included Saudi Arabia in its military training programs, giving them discounts (Jones, 2012). Such mutualism between Saudi Arabia and USA brought back the alliance between them, although their relationship remains marred and discouraged up to this day.
Despite deep differences, Saudi Arabia remains an indispensable ally to USA and the same is true vice versa (Makovsky, 2013). However, the recent increasing concern for Saudi Arabia’s lack of regards for human rights has led to a massive disapproval of its alliance with USA (Schiavenza, 2015). Many question why the USA still maintains its relation and involvement with Saudi Arabia as more and more countries begin to perceive the Middle Eastern giant as the breeding nest for terrorists. But the answer for question remains the same as it is in the beginning: oil (Schiavenza, 2015). With the recent discovery of USA’s capacity to produce oil on its own, its alliance with Saudi Arabia is considered unnecessary anymore (Schiavenza, 2015). However, US oil reserves are estimated to be only 10 billion barrels—hundred times smaller compared to those of Saudi Arabia with Kuwait and UAE whose oil reserves are estimated to be 460 billion barrels (Schiavenza, 2015). USA’s oil reserves are expected to plateau at 2020, as estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (Schiavenza, 2015). This is the most likely reason why USA cannot totally withdraw its support from Saudi Arabia—USA knows that its need of the Middle Eastern giant’s oil will soon become impossible to dispense again. Also, the shared political ideology of the two countries is crucial for their relationship as they both supply one another with the commodities they both need in order to combat forces they oppose that threaten the stability of their community.
Knowing the importance of assessing the relationship between USA and Saudi Arabia, it is important to learn more about the issue through conducting researches. In doing such research, it is important to take into great consideration the current relationship between two countries and how they affect one another in terms of politics, economy, and social development. However, the current problematic situation in Saudi Arabia brings into light the question of whether it is still a useful and good ally to the United States. With increasing countries continually opposing United States’ support to Saudi Arabia, the issue becomes more pressing and the need for it to be addressed becomes also necessary. In response to such, this study will aim to assess the social issue on hand. It will be important to thoroughly evaluate the history of US-Saudi Arabia relationship and assess the factors that strengthen their support for each other as well as those that caused them to negate one another. Additionally, the paper will further analyze the situation in Saudi Arabia and how it affects the country’s stability as well as its foreign relations. Lastly, this paper will also stress out the factors that elect Saudi Arabia as a useful and good ally to United States despite its ongoing human rights, and domestic and external social crises. As both an advocate and investigator of the issue highlighted in this research, my main task is to bring a clear evaluation of the issue and its extent both in the present as well as in the not-so-distant future. Furthermore, I shall also endeavor to be highly diligent in utilizing documents and resources for this research and must apply appropriate measures to avoid using those that do not give any significant and truthful exposition of the topic. Findings that will be established in this study will be of great benefit to those who are also studying the issue, to citizens whose awareness of this political concern is also important, to members of both Saudi Arabian and American communities, and to those directly involved with keeping the relationship between US and Saudi Arabia both beneficial and peaceful.
As the main investigator of the issue between USA and Saudi Arabia and the advocate for Saudi Arabia’s capacity to remain as a useful ally of USA, my knowledge regarding Middle Eastern politics, particularly of Saudi Arabia, as well as the politics in USA is important. As a student, I can also apply the knowledge I learned in school in order to complete this research. I can also share the findings of this paper to my fellow students in order to familiarize them with the current situation of USA and Saudi Arabia—an important issue especially with the increasing concerns regarding conflicts between Middle Eastern countries.

References

Blanchard, C.M. (2015). Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations. Congressional Research Service Report, 1-15. Retrieved from https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33533.pdf
Jones, T.C. (2012). America, Oil, and War in the Middle East. The Journal of American History, 208-218. DOI: 10.1093/jahist/jas045
Makovsky, M. (August 21, 2013). Saudi Arabia Is a U.S. Ally, Not a Friend. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/08/21/the-threat-and-value-of-saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-is-a-us-ally-not-a-friend
Ottoway, D. (2009). The U.S. and Saudi Arabia Since the 1930s. The Newsletter of the Wachman Center, 14(21), 1-4. Retrieved from http://www.fpri.org/articles/2009/08/us-and-saudi-arabia-1930s
Schiavenza, M. (Jan. 24, 2015). Why The US Is Stuck With Saudi Arabia. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/01/why-the-us-is-stuck-with-saudi-arabia/384805/