The Role of Identity in Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy

It has long been argued that the controversy of identity is one of the main sources of crisis in the Middle East and international politics. That is, the existence of differences in the identity of the countries causes tension between them, while the convergence and similarity can lead to cooperation. Nevertheless, empirical evidence from the Middle East has long defied this hypothesis. The present study seeks to answer the question why does Saudi Arabia, who claims to be the leader of the Islamic world, has repeatedly opposed the rise of Islamist movements in the Middle East? The research hypothesis implies that, In the case of Saudi foreign policy, similarity became particularly threatening as the distinctiveness of the Saudi identity was challenged and identity similarity is as a source of conflict. To address this paradox, this article builds on the growing literature on ontological security to explaining how similarity can generate Tension, insecurity and identity risks. The article follows with a comparison of Saudi identity risks in the wake of the Iranian revolution (1979) and the ascendance of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt (2012).