Middle East Policy articles from June 2005

Middle East Policy archives from June 2005

What we do, why it matters, what next?(Middle East Policy Council)
June 22, 2005... For nearly a quarter century, the Middle East Policy Council has been educating American opinion leaders in government, business and the media about Arab and Muslim politics and culture and about issues involving U.S. interests in the region....

Democracy: rising tide or mirage?
June 22, 2005... The following is an edited transcript of the thirty-ninth in a series of Capitol Hill conferences convened by the Middle East Policy Council. The meeting was held on April 22, 2005, in the Hart Senate Office Building, with Chas. W. Freeman,...

Democracy in the Arab region: getting there from here.
June 22, 2005... Successive Arab Human Development Reports have extensively documented the "freedom and good-governance deficit" in the Arab region. There is likewise consensus that a "democracy deficit" both exists and contributes to the other deficits that...

Communitarianism vs. individual rights in the west and the Islamic world.
June 22, 2005... LIBERALISM In the 1970s, Ronald Dworkin contrasted liberal commitment to individual rights with utilitarian calculations associated with economic rationalism and policy-driven initiatives aimed at general social welfare and security. (1)...

Understanding the roots of Iranian foreign policy in the new Iraq.
June 22, 2005... The Islamic Republic of Iran has vital interests in the new Iraq. As an influential regional power, Iran, no less than other states in the international system, has its own "sphere of influence" in which it tries to produce both security and...

The impact of Iran's nuclearization on Israel.
June 22, 2005... Iran's steady accumulation of the technology, expertise and fissile material necessary to build a nuclear weapon has led to belligerent noises from an understandably alarmed Israel about its ability and determination to prevent hostile nations...

The influence of the Christian Right in U.S. Middle East Policy.
June 22, 2005... Recent years have seen the emergence of a politicized and right-wing Protestant fundamentalism as a major factor behind U.S. support for the policies of the rightist Likud government in Israel. Indeed, given that a willingness by the U.S....

The Organization of the Islamic Conference: sharing an illusion.
June 22, 2005... Relations between the Muslim world and the West have been aught with tension and contradictions in recent decades. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, brought them spectacularly onto the front pages of every newspaper. In subsequent...

Israel-China relations and the Phalcon controversy.
June 22, 2005... Since the early 1990s, Sino-Israeli relations, especially the military-security dimension, have become a major irritant between the United States and Israel. Israel's relations with the United States and China have been dominated by its desire...

Qatari women: a new generation of leaders?
June 22, 2005... Much has been written about democratic transformation in the Middle East and the Gulf. The latest iteration of this policy, the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative, is designed to encourage reform on several fronts: economic, social...

Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski.(Interview)
June 22, 2005... Dr. Brzezinski was national-security adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. He is a trustee and counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor of American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins...

Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East.(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East, by Matt Rees. New York: Free Press, 2004. 302 pages. $26.00, hardcover. In the December 2, 2004, issue of The New York Times, there appeared two separate and seemingly unrelated...

A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, by Ilan Pappe. Cambridge University Press, 2004. xxi and 333 pages, 6 maps and 8 figures (photographs). $60.00, hardcover; $22.00, paperback. Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope in Times...

Zionism: A Brief History.(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Zionism: A Brief History, by Michael Brenner, translated by Shelley L. Frisch. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2003. 184 pages, including index. $18.95, paperback. "The moment has arrived to say 'yes' to the Americans," declared...

Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle, by Mazin B. Qumsieh. London: Pluto Press, 2004. Foreword by Salman Abu Sitta. 236 pages. $15.61, paperback. There are voluminous studies of the Palestine...

Prophets Outcast: A Century of Dissident Jewish Writing about Zionism and Israel.(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Prophets Outcast: A Century of Dissident Jewish Writing about Zionism and Israel, edited by Adam Shatz. New York: Nation Books, 2004. 408 pages. $12.89, paperback. Adam Shatz, the literary editor for The Nation magazine, in Prophets...

The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America.(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America, by Kenneth M. Pollack. New York: Random House, 2004. 539 pages. $26.95, hardcover. Over the past few years, there have been numerous journalistic attempts to review the history of...

No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, by Reza Aslan. New York: Random House, 2005. 266 pages. $25.95, hardcover. This book is a sociohistorical narrative of Islam in which author Reza Aslan debunks many Orientalist...