Shifting sands: the United States in the Middle East

7. A Changing Lineup of Regional Powerhouses8. New Boys on the Block: Nonstate Actors; 9. A Changing Islam and the Rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Part IV. The United States and the New Middle East in the Twenty-First Century; 10. The Bush Administration and the Arc of Instability; 11. Obama: Engaging the Middle East on Multiple Fronts; Part V. Conclusion: Looking Back and Looking Forward; 12. Ups and Downs of an Everyday Player; 13. Toward a New Strategic Partnership?; Afterword; Notes; Works Cited; Index.

Joel S. Migdal focuses on the approach U.S. officials adopted toward the Middle East after World War II, one that paid scant attention to tectonic shifts in the region. The United States did not restrict its strategic model to the Middle East?beginning with Harry S. Truman, American presidents applied a uniform strategy rooted in the country's Cold War experience in Europe to regions across the globe, designed to project America into nearly every corner of the world while limiting costs and overreach.The approach was simple: find a local power that could play Great Britain's role in Europe aft