35Received 20.06.2025. Revised 18.08.2025. Accepted 22.08.2025.
Abstract. The UAE and Saudi Arabia invested hundreds of billions of dollars in American startups, sports, and movie production in 2024 alone. Especially in IT giants. Yet, this is not just business in the new era of globalization. Monarchies fear that their traditional foundations may be undermined by the US “digital push” and therefore seek to acquire leverage to control the American activities in the IT industry in their interest. This is increasingly affecting Washington’s policy in the Middle East in the sphere of “soft power” and its evolution into a new guise, namely, into a kind of “co-production of information and PR-products”. In essence, instead of promoting democracy, it is a pragmatic partnership with Arab elites through economy and culture. Washington begins to act unconventionally, reaching significant agreements with Middle Eastern partners not through the State Department, but on the basis of official and unofficial ties, primarily, with sheikhs and clans of the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. In this article, the author analyzes the essence of the change in the ideological model of US influence in the region, which was deployed by Donald Trump during his first presidential term – and is already prevailing during the second. Through economic instruments, the US has built up the strength of political partnerships with GCC countries while maintaining economic leverage. In turn, the Arab monarchies are also expanding their economic influence, acquiring the status of global players, “opening up” to the Western world while keeping their political system unchanged. Thus, American “soft power” towards the Middle East becomes transactional, focuses on pragmatic partnerships, and draws closer to Arab elites through economy and culture. As a result, a hybrid model of “soft power” becomes predominant, working for both Arab and American audiences.
Keywords: US, Donald Trump, Middle East, “soft power”, Arab elites, Arab monarchies, Arab investment, sports as geopolitics, movies as politics
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