The Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) is a British think-tank, operating out of Chatham House, a location noted not only for good political analysis, but also the Chatham House Rule which covers the confidentiality of speakers and participants at its meetings.

The RIIA’s monthly magazine, The World Today provides authoritative reports on various meetings, protecting anonymity of course. The current issue has an interesting report on Saudi Arabia’s newly energized forays into international diplomacy, well worth your reading. At the link below, you can download the three-page PDF document, taken from the magazine. Do hurry, though… the content is freely available only until the end of the month. After that, only members/subscribers can get access.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Policy: Discreet Persuasion
Dr Neil Partrick

Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy rests on contradictory pillars. It asserts Islamic and Arab credentials, while standing beside the United States; backing regional compromise, but conceding little to Iranian interests. The recent ebb and flow of forces in Lebanon underlines the complexities.

THE ELEVENTH HOUR LEBANESE deal in late May, which moved the country out of an eighteen month political impasse, and thereby seemingly preventing a slide to civil war, was the result of internal Lebanese factors and the regional balance of forces. The success of mediation by Qatar apparently contrasts with the failure of Saudi Arabian efforts – on its own and through the Arab League. However, while the perceptible neutrality of a tiny, but energy-rich, emirate made it a more politically-acceptable facilitator than the Saudi kingdom, the follow-through to settle unresolved factors in the Lebanese agreement is unlikely to be in the gift of Doha.

Qatar’s success, like that of Saudi Arabia in a number of headline-grabbing diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East and beyond over the past two years, could prove short lived. The scale of the issues and the institutional limitations of policy making and follow-up by these would-be peacemakers is likely to weigh against durable progress.

Saudi Arabia’s own diplomatic efforts in Lebanon have been part of its attempt to rein-in perceptibly malign Iranian influence throughout the Middle East. While increasingly active, Riyadh’s regional and extra-regional diplomatic forays have suffered from insufficient clout and institutional capacity.
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