Re-engaging the Middle East: a new vision for U.S. policy

Front Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Information -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Between Retreat and Overinvestment in the Middle East and North Africa -- Part I: Defusing Regional Conflicts and Rebuilding Diplomatic Influence -- The Syrian Crucible and Future U.S. Options -- Moving from Partisan to Peacemaker in Yemen -- Toward a Stable Libya -- Part II: Re-Imagining Key U.S. Security Partnerships -- The U.S.-Israel Relationship and the Israeli-Palestinian Arena -- Why Iraq Matters -- The United States and Egypt: Updating an Obsolete Relationship -- Recalibrating the Terms of U.S.-Saudi Relations -- Part III: Regional Challenges for the United States -- A New Cold War in the Middle East? -- Iran: Leading with Diplomacy -- Adapting U.S. Defense Posture in the Middle East for New Priorities -- The Use and Misuse of Security Assistance in the Middle East and North Africa -- Toward Strategic Investments in Foreign Assistance: The Tunisia Experiment -- Looking to the Future -- Contributors -- Index -- Back Cover.

U.S. policy in the Middle East has had very few successes in recent years, so maybe it's time for a different approach. But is the new approach of the Trump administration - military disengagement coupled with unquestioning support for key allies - Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia - the way forward? In this edited volume, noted experts on the region lay out a better long-term strategy for protecting U.S. interests in the Middle East. The authors articulate a vision that is both self-interested and carefully tailored to the unique dynamics of the increasingly divergent sub-regions in the Middle East, including North Africa, the Sunni Arab bloc of Egypt and Persian Gulf states, and the increasingly chaotic Levant. The book argues that the most effective way to pursue and protect U.S. interests is unlikely to involve the same alliance-centric approach that has been the basis of Washington's policy since the 1990s. Instead, the United States should adopt a nimbler and less military-dominant strategy that relies on a diversified set of partners and a determination to establish priorities for American interests and the use of resources, both financial and military.