This paper addresses the question of the Biden administration's policy towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with special regard to the reasons for the US decision to send strong signals of reassurance in 2022 after the initial deterioration in their relations. This paper's main hypothesis posits that the US overall implemented a hybrid strategy towards its Gulf partner, but there were different constellations of coercive and accommodative elements to it in different time frames. It draws on Jeffrey Taliaferro's theory of intraalliance politics, which examines great power patrons' strategies towards allies and partners based on the administration's perception of the regional power distribution, the assessment of the threat level and time horizon for its actualization, as well as the presence of domestic constraints. In the case of this paper, it was contended that the Biden administration perceived a mostly unfavourable power distribution in the Middle East and that the initial perception of a long threat horizon was replaced by uncertainty, stemming from the indirect effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on the Persian Gulf. These variables, combined with the high domestic opposition of Congress to accommodating Saudi Arabia, can explain the resulting hybrid strategy. The method of congruence analysis was used in this paper to test the observable manifestations of the hypothesis.

Book review : Mitrović, Dragana. 2019. From Socialist Modernization to Chinese Dream. Belgrade: Institute for Asian Studies, 306 p.

Predmet ovog istraživanja predstavljaju odnosi Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Kraljevine Saudijske Arabije u problemskim oblastima energetske i vojne bezbednosti u periodu od 2009. do 2017. godine. U prvom delu rada dat je pregled diplomatskih odnosa SAD i Saudijske Arabije za vreme administracija Baraka Obame, drugi deo rada je posvećen odnosima dve zemlje u oblasti vojne bezbednosti, dok se treći deo odnosi na energetsku bezbednost. Osnovna pretpostavka ovog rada je da je u periodu posle 2009. godine došlo do smanjenja američke energetske zavisnosti od država na Bliskom istoku, uključujući i Saudijsku Arabiju, dok je zavisnost zemalja na Bliskom istoku u oblasti vojne bezbednosti, a pre svega Saudijske Arabije, ostala nepromenjena. Usled toga, u radu se pretpostavlja da postoje odnosi asimetrične međuzavisnosti između dve države. Rad je empirijske prirode, ali je vođen teorijom kompleksne međuzavisnosti u međunarodnim odnosima.