The Obama Doctrine and Its Impact on U.S.–Saudi Relations Until 2017

Abstract

     With the arrival of President Obama (2009-2017), the United States of America witnessed a different turn in its foreign policy compared to what President George W. Bush (2001-2009) had left behind, policies that caused a lot of damage to the United States of America and its interests, which were described as disastrous, especially relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which Obama considered to have a pivotal and important role in the Middle East and had weight in the balance of American policy to preserve its interests and the balance of power, of    which Saudi Arabia was one of the poles against Iran. Despite the improvement of American-Saudi relations at the beginning of the Obama era, they witnessed a series of tensions interspersed with convergence on certain issues. Obama’s policy towards the Arab Spring revolutions constituted a factor of discord between the two countries through his support for some forces that Saudi Arabia stood against, in addition to the caution and fear that relations between the two countries witnessed regarding the nuclear agreement in which the United States of America participated.