Historiography of America's relationship to Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

THE HISTORIOGRAPHY RELATIONSHIP Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 THE HISTORIOGRAPHY RELATIONSHIP 3 Introduction 3 The Historiography Relationship 3 Diplomacy 3 Oil 8 Gender/Women 9 Conclusion 10 Bibliography 12 THE HISTORIOGRAPHY RELATIONSHIP Introduction The correlation that exists between the Saudi Arabia began long ago before coming up with the Kingdom, that is, before 1932.1 The United States of America established its initial contacts with Saudi Arabia in the 1920s.2 This was basically via American Christian doctors resident in the city of Bahrain.3 This paper shall, therefore, discuss this historiography relationship between the two countries in terms of diplomacy, oil and gender/women. The Historiography Relationship Diplomacy Historically, the two countries have shared a very good diplomatic agreement. For instance, in the middle of Cold War, the two countries upheld a common understanding that “godless communism” was problematic. This enhanced their diplomatic relationship as they both sought to fight against it. On the one hand, the United States laid a great emphasis on the part of “communism” while Saudi Arabia focused more on the part of “godless”. Through these diplomatic relationships, the Americans were considered to be decent people. This was the perception of the Saudi Arabians. This enabled them to cultivate a friendly relationship that existed between the nations. This is unlike the colonialist British whom Saudi Arabia detested seeing as they shared an extremely uneasy relationship. This is notwithstanding the fact that it never culminated into any form of hostilities between Britain and Saudi Arabia. According to the people of Saudi Arabia, the Americans were far much better than the British and this explains the good relationship between the two countries. The Americans employed the use of its vast technology and skills to accord help to Saudi Arabia in this developmental endeavors. However, Saudi Arabia had to return the favor by giving the Americans huge contracts as well as salaries to enhance the development of the country. Even at the present, it is noted that most of the infrastructure in Saudi Arabia was designed and built by the Americans. This was made possible through the good diplomatic relationship that the two countries shared. The oil embargo that took place in the 1970s, however, restrained the diplomatic relations that existed between the nations. They wanted to prove their independence from the United States and they were not merely puppets of the United States.4 This was particularly due to the policies that the United States had imposed on Israel.5 Saudi Arabia and its partners took part in a boycott that not only had negative impacts on the United States but also the world at large.6 Subsequently, the United States decided to withdraw itself from the Bretton Woods Agreement and eventually leaving behind the gold standard.7 The gold standard was a practice whereby oil was priced in terms of gold as opposed to dollars. Eventually, this led to the quadrupling of the gold price as well as a downfall of the stock market of the United States. This was a big strain on the good diplomatic relationship that the nations prided themselves in in the past years before the boycott. Nonetheless, in the end, Saudi Arabia successfully sorted out its issue with the United States. Even though it now owned ARAMCO fully, it still relied upon the United States to offer it assistance as regards to development and military sales.8 Even though Saudi Arabia was still irritated by the policies that the United States had laid on Israel, they did nothing about it. After the seizure of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in 1990 as well as the Desert Storm that took place in 1991, the close diplomatic cooperation that the United States and Saudi Arabia shared was once again revived.9 It is, however, noteworthy to indicate that the US left the relations that it had with Saudi Arabia on autopilot. As the Cold War came to an end, the views that the countries upheld also came to an end. This potentially made the United States to limit into the bare minimum its diplomatic presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Despite the efforts that had been made to restore the diplomatic relations that existed between the US and Saudi Arabia, things became worse after the September 11 attacks in America. 17 out of the 19 hijackers were identified to be nationals of Saudi Arabia.10 This culminated in an immense tension between the two nations. On the one hand, Saudi Arabia denied vehemently having taken any part in the attacks while on the other hand; the United States insisted that Saudi Arabia had actually taken part in a number of ways. For instance, the United States indicated that the education system of Saudi Arabia stimulated religious extremism which eventually gave rise to acts of terrorism.11 It also indicated that Saudi Arabia’s monetary control were not effective at all and the money that Saudi Arabia contributed for purposes of “Islamic charities” was actually channeled to terrorist organizations.12 This further strained the diplomatic relations between the said two countries. It was not until the Al-Qaeda attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that it was able to into terms that the United States was actually right. This realization changed Saudi Arabia view of tings and it became a good partner to the United States in the fight against terrorism. In order to achieve this, it made a number of adjustments in its system. For instance, it imposed a number of controls on charitable donations as well as money transfers.13 It also reformed its system of education to ensure that it did not encourage religious extremism.14 Saudi Arabia supported the invasion of the United States into Iraq in order to fight terrorism though it never supported the idea of launching direct attacks from Saudi Arabia to Iraq.15 In their diplomatic relations, the two countries shares a lot of things, for example Iran and the influence that it has.16 The Iran concerns are more relevant to the concerns of Saudi Arabia compared to US because the Saudi Arabians desires to protect its oil fields that are very close to Iran.17 Iran is known to have a destabilizing influence in the countries that are found in the Middle East and this has formed the main concern for the Saudi Arabia.18 They would not want to see Iran acquiring atomic weapons in the region. Apart from the fight against terrorism that the two countries share and the developmental support that Saudi Arabia obtains from the United States, the two countries also have diplomatic relations in terms of trade. There are very strong trade relations between the two countries. Saudi Arabia has made major investments across the world and particularly in the United States which potentially means that another oil embargo will not only hurt the economy of the United States but also that of Saudi Arabia. The United States is also allowing students from Saudi Arabia to study in its universities.19 For instance, it is noted that more than 70,000 students from Saudi Arabia are sponsored by their government to study in various universities in the United States and hence, improving the diplomatic relations of the two countries.20 Even though the current diplomatic relationship existing between the States is not as strong as before, there are still hopes that the same can be enhanced. Oil In 1925, the United States had its first oil relationship with Saudi Arabia. This was particularly made possible when the founder of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz, commissioned Karl Twitchell, an American citizen, to explore oil in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.21 He had all reasons to believe that the oil would be present since the province was close to Iraq which was known to have huge oil-bearing fields. After a few years of carrying out the oil exploration, Karl Twitchell finally discovered signs of the existence of the oil. The Standard Oil of California played a very important role in this exploration endeavors as it was able to strike an efficacious well of oil in Saudi Arabia.22 This marked the beginning of the oil activities in Saudi Arabia.23 However, these activities were delayed a bit during the Second World War when Saudi Arabia was forced to import its oil from the United States. After 1943, Saudi Arabia continued with its efforts of mining its oil through the help of the Standard Oil of California which had changed its name to Arab-American Oil Company (ARAMCO).24 This was the commencement of the history of oil between the two nations.25 After Karl Twitchell’s oil exploration activities, another American citizen, Charles Richard Crane, gave capital contributions for the exploration of water and mineral resources among them oil in the now present day Saudi Arabia.26 He financed the projects out of his own philanthropic desires to discover the mineral resources and more specifically the oil. As such, he aided to restore their relationship in terms of the oil exploration and hence, making Saudi Arabia to stand out as a strong oil country across the globe.27 Gender/Women Majority of people that live in Saudi Arabia are Islamic. This explains the differences that they have in their views of gender and women. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, historically women have been treated as second class citizens.28 They are believed to be inferior to the male gender. It is actually significant to note that they have a lot of restrictions on its women and it does not even allow them to drive.29 This is unlike in the United States where both sexes are considered to be equal before the law and they are given the same treatment in all fields.30 The women in the United States are also allowed to drive. Through their relationship, the Saudi Arabia has begun to make various adjustments in the manner in which it treats the women. Currently, the women in Saudi Arabia are being allowed to do a number of things that traditionally they would not have been allowed to do. For example, they have access to education and employment. They have also gained the rights to own property in their own names as opposed to the past when they would only own property in their husband’s name. In the wake of feminism, which has been propagated by the Western culture especially the United States of America, the women in Saudi Arabia have begun to fight for their rights to be allowed to drive. Though it is still law that the women in Saudi Arabia would commit an offence if they drive, various adjustments are being made by the country so that the women can have that freedom.31 Conclusion From the foregoing analysis, it is evident that the nations have had a long historiography relationship that dates back to the 1920s. The relationship was mainly instigated by the initial oil exploration activities that were carried out by Americans with the support of the founders of Saudi Arabia.32 The two countries have also shared a close diplomatic relationship in terms of trade, education and the fight against terrorism.33 However, as earlier noted, this diplomatic relation suffered major setbacks especially after the oil boycott in which Saudi Arabia wanted to prove that it is not a puppet of the United States. In terms of gender, Saudi Arabia has borrowed heavily from the feminist agendas of the United States and the same has enabled it to make various adjustments in terms of the way it treats its women. For instance, adjustments are being made so that women are given the freedom and right to drive and so that they are not considered to be second-class citizens. From the above discussion, it is noted that their democratic relation did not go through a similar path as the evolution that the United States had with other places. It was unique due to the extremely close tie that the two countries had right from the beginning. The various relations, good and bad, between the two countries have largely determined the scholarly writings of the two nations. Bibliography Al-rasheed, madawi. U.S.?Saudi Relations: A Deadly Triangle?. Diplomatic History 31, no. 3 (2007): 595-598. Aman, Mary Jo. Education In Saudi Arabia The Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission In The United States Of America. Digest of Middle East Studies 1, no. 1 (1992): 73-75. Bahgat, Gawdat. The New Geopolitics Of Oil: The United States, Saudi Arabia, And Russia. Orbis 47, no. 3 (2003): 447-461. Baxter, Kylie, and Kumuda Simpson. The United States And Saudi Arabia Through The Arab Uprisings. Global Change, Peace & Security 27, no. 2 (2015): 139-151. Brown, L. Carl, and Thomas W. Lippman. 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ARAMCO, The United States And Saudi Arabia: A Study Of The Dynamics Of Foreign Oil Policy, 1933-1950 Irvine H. Anderson. The Public Historian 4, no. 2 (1982): 92-94. Vernon, Raymond, and Irvine H. Anderson. Aramco, The United States And Saudi Arabia: A Study Of The Dynamics Of Foreign Oil Policy, 1933-1950. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 1, no. 3 (1982): 421. White, Gerald T. Aramco, The United States, And Saudi Arabia: A Study Of The Dynamics Of Foreign Oil Policy, 1933-1950 Irvine H. Anderson. Pacific Historical Review 51, no. 4 (1982): 454-455. Read More