Immortal Monarchies? Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and the Arab Spring | INSS
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Strategic Assessment

Home Strategic Assessment Immortal Monarchies? Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and the Arab Spring

Immortal Monarchies? Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and the Arab Spring

Research Forum | July 2014 Follow us on Google
Yoel Guzansky

At first glance it appears that the Gulf monarchies were unaffected by the Arab Spring, and were instead blessed with greater endurance and survivability than the “republican” Arab regimes. However, the Arab Gulf monarchies were not exceptions because they were monarchies. To a large extent, they have so far withstood the tidal wave of popular uprisings because most of them enjoy material capabilities that enable them – up to a point – to buy off internal opponents and acquire outside support. Meantime, the failure to date of the revolutions to fulfill the expectations of the Arab peoples has weakened the momentum of the Arab Spring, and has consequently removed this threat to most of the Gulf monarchies, if only temporarily.


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  • Research

    • Topics
      • Israel and the Global Powers
      • Israel-United States Relations
      • Glazer Israel-China Policy Center
      • Russia
      • Europe
      • Antisemitism and Delegitimization
      • Iran and the Shi'ite Axis
      • The Campaign Against Iran and the Shiite Axis
      • Iran
      • Lebanon and Hezbollah
      • Syria
      • Yemen and the Houthi Movement
      • Iraq and the Iraqi Shiite Militias
      • Conflict to Agreements
      • Israeli-Palestinian Relations
      • Hamas and the Gaza Strip
      • Peace Agreements and Normalization in the Middle East
      • Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States
      • Turkey
      • Egypt
      • Jordan
      • Israel’s National Security Policy
      • Military and Strategic Affairs
      • Societal Resilience and the Israeli Society
      • Jewish-Arab Relations in Israel
      • Climate, Infrastructure and Energy
      • Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict
      • Cross-Arena Research
      • Data Analytics Center
      • Law and National Security
      • Advanced Technologies and National Security
      • Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference
      • Economics and National Security
    • Projects
      • Preventing the Slide into a One-State Reality
      • India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)
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    • Policy Research and Papers
    • Special Publication
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