Shifting sands: the United States in the Middle East

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

The Middle East in the eye of the global storm --. - America's place in the Middle East --. - Failed partnerships and fragile partners --. - Finding a place in the Middle East: a new partnership develops out of Black September --. - The strategic partnership faces strains: the Yom Kippur War and the changing calculus of U.S. foreign policy --. - The strategic relationship unravels: the end of the Cold War and the Gulf War of 1990-1991 --. - A changing lineup of regional powerhouses --. - New boys on the block: non-state actors --. - A changing Islam and the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran --. - The Bush administration and the arc of instability --. - Obama: engaging the Middle East on multiple fronts --. - Ups and downs of an everyday player, on the cheap --. - Toward a new strategic partnership?