Li Yi: “Saudi Arabia’s Economic Diplomacy through Foreign Aid: Dynamics, Objectives and Mode,”

Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Source: Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Vol.13, Issue 1, 2018

Abstract: Economic diplomacy is an important part of a country’s overall diplomacy, and foreign aid is an essential tool in a country’s economic diplomacy. With the accumulation of wealth, Saudi Arabia uses its petrodollars to carry out economic diplomacy, and by increasing the amount of aid and expanding aid targets, it achieves multiple goals. This article analyzes the policy objectives of Saudi Arabia’s foreign aid from the perspectives of political, economic and religious dynamics, and reviews the main models in this field, namely, strategic foreign aid, development-oriented foreign aid and humanitarian foreign aid. The author believes that Saudi Arabia’s foreign aid is double-sided. On the one hand, it actively implements the development goals of South-South cooperation and contributes to the promotion of global economic recovery and development; on the other hand, it promotes Wahhabi expansion and development, bringing certain threats to the world’s traditional security. However, since 2015, the Saudi government has begun to control, regulate, and minimize religious promotion to reduce certain threats that Wahhabism has generated.