A Possible Framework for Analysing National Security. The Saudi Arabian Perspective.

Abstract

This study will focus on explaining the dynamics of Saudi Arabia’s national security. In explaining these dynamics, the study will consider two of Buzan’s frameworks for analysing national security. Further enhancement will be given by conceptualising specific assumptions about Saudi Arabia’s national security – these will be based on the manner in which certain features are utilised within the Saudi state. Semistructured interviews will be utilised to examine the findings from the adapted frameworks. By studying the state’s domestic, regional and international concerns, as well as the specific threats that each level pose with regards to several security sectors (including the: social, political, economic, militant and environmental), this study will provide a distinctive analysis of national security within the Saudi state. Initially, this study acknowledges that only a few studies have been conducted into Saudi Arabia’s national security; furthermore, these have focused on the internal perspective by considering Saudi national security in terms of its military and strategic partnerships. Secondly, the study proposes that Saudi Arabia is unique (and unlike any other state) as it holds various important social and religious aspects that are not fully understood by external sources. Consequently, this study conceptualises Saudi national security from the internal perspective by considering the Saudi state’s specific features.