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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 03/03
Saudi-Italian Relations During the Reign of King Fahd
November 2001
Abstract
In the hundred years that have elapsed since the birth of Saudi Arabia many important developments and changes have affected both this country and Italy. Still, whereas Saudi Arabia has progressed with remarkable political stability, Italy has suffered numerous shocks: the crisis and fall, after World War I, of the nationalist elites which had made Italy an independent and united country in the 19th century; the fall of the Fascist regime and the Savoy monarchy at the end of World War II; the emergence, during the Cold War, of a Western democracy run by the classes which the nationalist elite had excluded from the process of independence; today, after the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Catholic and communist parties that dominated the Cold War domestic stage and the painful attempt to establish a less ideologically-based, more market-oriented and liberal-minded democracy in the country.
This difference between a history of stability and one of shocks shapes Saudi-Italian relations, in the sense that, whereas the role of Italy in Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy has maintained its character over time, the reverse is not true. In fact, following the shocks Italy suffered, Saudi Arabia’s significance for Italy was also subject to relevant changes. In other words, Saudi Arabia-Italy relations have constantly been characterised by strong changes in Italian identity while there has been strong stability in that of Saudi Arabia. Still, there is no doubt that relations have been good or excellent all the time. Adaptation has been fostered by Saudi stability and sense of balance.
