The Arab Uprisings: Threats and Balancing Strategies

Zainul Abideen Jibril

TESAM Publishing No. 5

ISBN: 978-605-71122-7-9
Edition Number: 1st Edition, September 2023 Lider Sancak Academy Library

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Library Information Card
Jibril, Zainul Abideen
The Arab Uprisings: Threats and Balancing Strategies / Zainul Abideen Jibril 1st Edition, 358 p., 15,5x23,5 cm. Bibliography available, No index.
ISBN: 978-605-71122-7-9
1. Threat Perception 2. Balancing 3. The Gulf

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This study examines the threat perceptions and different responses of states in dealing

with common threats perceptions. Balancing strategies such as armament and alliance

with other states are mainly the consequence of threats or perceived threats in states’

internal and external environment. States that share structural similarities are expected

to behave in similar ways while balancing their threats. However, often at times,

differences are noticed in the balancing strategies of similar states. In the Gulf,

upheavals such as the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the war that ensued as a

consequence, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait, the US invasion of Iraq, and the Arab

Uprisings shaped the region’s security dynamics. Threatened by these upheavals, the

states took different strategies to balance their threat perceptions. To arrive at a

plausible explanation, the Most Similar Systems Design was used to determine the

similar states to understand and explain the reasons for the difference. Therefore,

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain were carefully selected given that they share

common threat perceptions; they are monarchical and authoritarian, among other

things. The threat perceptions and balancing strategies of the states were examined.

The result suggests that differences inherent to the states determine the nature and

magnitude of threat perception and explain why states that perceive similar threats

reacted differently.