Saudi Arabia; The Antagonistic formulation of the Political and the Spread of Political Violence in the Context of Popular Uprisings in the Middle East (2011 to 2017)

Asadi, Mohammadhasan; Samiee Esfahani, Alireza; Bagheri Dolatabadi, Ali

doi:10.27834/CSIW.2310.1306.2.29.5

Saudi Arabia; The Antagonistic formulation of the Political and the Spread of Political Violence in the Context of Popular Uprisings in the Middle East (2011 to 2017)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mohammadhasan Asadi ¹

Alireza Samiee Esfahani ²

Ali Bagheri Dolatabadi ³

¹ M.A. Political Science, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran

² Associate Professor, Political Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

³ Associate Professor, Political Sciences, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran

10.27834/CSIW.2310.1306.2.29.5

Abstract

Saudi Arabia is one of the most important ideological states in the Middle East region, and the Wahhabi sect has played a large role in the process of forming and continuing its political life; As the main base and refuge of the Salafis, it has always played a major role in the production and reproduction of a regional and extra-regional jihadist discourse. The present research seeks to answer the key question of how “the political” is formulated in the government discourse of Saudi Arabia and what effect has this formulation had on the foreign policy approach of this country in the region (during the years 2011-2017)? The hypothesis tested by the research is that “based on the political discourse ruling the Saudi Arabian regime (with the central signifier of Sunni Wahhabi Islam), Saudi Arabia's reading of the concept of “the political” is Antagonistic/hostility (based on friend/enemy). Therefore, the reproduction of this approach in the field of foreign policy made this country put the policy of eliminating "others" (including the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic movements supported by this country) at the top of its priorities. This, in turn, has fueled the formation and strengthening of radical Salafi-Jihad groups and the spread of political violence in the region”. For testing and explaining the Main Variables of the Research, Carl Schmitt's Theory of the Concept of the Political and Laclau and Mouffe's Discourse Analysis Method have been used.

Keywords

Saudi Arabia

the Political

Antagonism

political violence

Middle East

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