The Encircled Kingdom: The Saudi Anti-Communist Stance, 1958–67

Abstract

Abstract This article evaluates Saudi Arabia's anti-Communist stance between 1958 and 1967, in the midst of the Cold War. It presents an alternative interpretation of how anti-Communism was framed as a struggle against Arab Nationalism and Zionism in the Middle East. Furthermore, it highlights the different perspectives on anti-Communist agitation provided in primary sources and Saudi historiography and offers fresh insight into the Saudis’ anti-Communist stance. The analysis shows that Saudi attitudes in the Cold War were dominated by a fear of the Soviet Communists that subsequently extended to all other secular ideologies. The article concludes that the Saudi strategy of anti-Communism was a crucial building block to curb the spread of Communism in the twentieth century.