Saudi Arabia’s petroleum wealth has allowed the country to weather the anarchy that has spread throughout the Middle East. However, the kingdom is under a great deal of internal and external strain, which will lead to its weakening over the course of the next few years. A weakened Saudi polity will worsen the region’s growing insecurity, given that Saudi Arabia is the only major state to have survived the Arab Spring and is playing the lead role in protecting against further erosion of state authority in the Middle East. The world's largest exp...