A Study On Saudi Government's Lobbying Activities Toward The United States(From 1945 Till Now)

After President Trump came to power,the relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia quickly recovered from the alienation and discord.Some new developments appeared,such as frequent exchange of high-level visits,and increased cooperation and coordination on various regional issues.However,concerns about the Saudi influence and even manipulation of U.S.foreign policy are becoming more and more obvious.Saudi Arabia's large-scale lobbying activities in the United States are regarded as evidence of such influence and manipulation,and began to receive extensive attention,discussion and criticism.Saudi Arabia's lobbying activities in the United States date back to the end of the second World War and Saudi Arabia have now become an important player in Washington.The Saudi government is the absolute main force for the Kingdom to carry out lobbying activities due to the high expenditure.So this paper takes the Saudi government's lobbying activities in the United States as the research object,taking the demands and the strategies of lobbying as the dimensions,to analyze its laws of development and characteristics.The Saudi government's lobbying activities in the United States can be divided into three stages,the exploration stage from1945 to 1975,the mature stage from 1976 to 2000 and the new development stage from 2001 till now.The overall features are high political orientation and elite orientation.The demands are mostly about foreign,military and security issues,such as multilateral policy demands derived from ArabIsraeli relations and the Yemen civil war,as well as material needs such as arms trade and nuclear technical cooperation.The strategies mainly tend to obtain the resources and support of the elites from all walks of life in the United States.The high-level contact strategy of the two governments is the core point of lobbying activities.The agency layout strategy,which needs a lot of money investment,is the basic aspect of the lobbying activities.And the flexible external response strategy is used as supplement.In the course of long-term development,Saudi Arabia's demand of lobbying activities have gradually intervened American foreign policy.The strategies have gradually impacted the objects of lobbying.And the connection between government-led lobbying and diplomatic activities has been strengthened.So its intention and ability on influencing the foreign policy of the United States have aroused the vigilance.