Konflikt Arabii Saudyjskiej z Jordanią (1990–1991) i Katarem (2014–2021). Specyfika monarchii arabskich

Abstract

The Arabian Peninsula is the last place on Earth dominated by absolutist monarchies or systems that are, in fact, similar. There evolved a political system dominated by Saudi Arabia and in the shadow of that kingdom there are monarchies in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is a federation of several smaller monarchies. In the Cold War, all these states were forced to act jointly to assuage the threat posed by the post-Soviet Arab republics, such as Egypt. However, select common goals notwithstanding, the houses exercising the power in these states have for centuries been involved in conflicts and disputes. Even nowadays it is possible for these conflicts to revive. The article discusses two such disputes, the first one being the rivalry between the Saudis and the Hashemites. In 1990–1991, it resulted in the abrupt severance of all collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. A similar dispute concerns the House of Saud and the House of Al-Thani, the result of which was a severe political conflict of Riyadh with Qatar in 2014–2020. These two conflicts reflect sudden variability of relations between Arab monarchies: as such, they indicate hegemonic ambitions of Riyadh, but also strong resistance of some of the royal families against these claims, and the potentiality of destabilisation inherent in these relations.