Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 4, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2019 | Page 38

Global Security and Intelligence Studies • Volume 4, Number 1 • Spring / Summer 2019 Power Shifts in the Saudi–Iranian Strategic Competition Aidan Parkes 1 Abstract The tensions between The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have afflicted the Gulf, and the broader Middle East region pervasively since the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran. The most theoretically illuminating feature of this conflict is that rather than isolated and regional, it develops parallel to global shifts in power. This article analyses the ascensions of two Islamic powers, and how their ascensions have aligned, commensurate to trends in global polarity. While religious incongruence underpins an aversion that is predicated on sectarianism, structural implications of polarity remain pervasive, and omnipresent in explaining the way states interact with one another. Polarity theory has been applied to the Middle East in the regional sense. However, the literature pertaining to how global polarity inflects on the Saudi– Iranian contest is understudied. It is this space in scholarship this paper seeks to address. Keywords: Polarity, Security, Strategic Studies, Iran, Saudi Arabia Cambios de poder en la competencia estratégica entre Arabia Saudita e Irán Las tensiones entre la República Islámica de Irán (RII) y el Reino de Arabia Saudita (RAS) han afectado al Golfo, y a la región más amplia de Medio Oriente desde la Revolución Islámica de Irán en 1979. La característica más teóricamente ilustradora de este conflicto es que, en lugar de ser aislado y regional, se desarrolla paralelamente a los cambios globales en el poder. Este artículo analiza el crecimiento de dos poderes islámicos, y cómo estos mismos se han alineado de acuerdo con las tendencias en la polaridad global. Si bien la incongruencia religiosa sustenta una aversión que se basa en el sectarismo, las implicaciones estructurales de la polaridad siguen 1 Aidan Parkes ([email protected]) is a Doctoral Candidate at the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies (CAIS), Australian National University (ANU). 27 doi: 10.18278/gsis.4.1.3