Allies Divided: Transatlantic Policies for the Greater Middle East

Abstract

"The reader will find. . .fresh and new insights into these growing problems. More important, the book is no mere catalog of problems; practical policy options are examined and assessed throughout a provocative and broad-ranging menu of proposals for seizing the opportunities and coping with the stresses in this still-dangerous part of the world."

--Sam Nunn, U.S. Senator, 1972— 97.

"The Greater Middle East remains central among the flash points of world politics, and this volume provides a superb analysis of the Transatlantic challenges, common interests, and differences."
--Professor Dr. Karl Kaiser, Director, Research Institute, German Society for Foreign Affairs

"This volume is a valuable contribution to understanding how and why the United States and Europe are on a collision course over the Middle East, and why that collision is one of the major geopolitical questions of the post-Cold War era. . . .The historical , political, academic, and economic analyses. . . provide a solid base for understanding the triangular relationship that is vital to global economic and political stability."--Jim Hoagland, Associate Editor, Washington Post

The shifting global security and defense landscape of the post-Cold War era has led the West to reexamine regional priorities and existing international institutions. Many scholars have written on how best to coordinate policy on the security of Central Europe and the states of the former Soviet Union, and on reforming NATO and the OSCE. Very few scholars, however, have prescribed policy for transatlantic cooperation toward threats that transcend Europe and NATO, especially in the Middle East.

Many transatlantic security concerns in the coming decades will originate not in Europe, but in the Greater Middle East, which encompasses the area from the Maghreb to the Caspian basin. The volume juxtaposes essays from U.S. and European scholars on selected areas and issues: the Arab-Israeli peace process, the Persian Gulf, Turkey and the Caspian Basin, Islamic extremism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and military force projection. Each author considers American and European strategies toward a particular issue and makes suggestions for future policy collaboration between the countries on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill is Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard''s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Michael Sturmer is Director of the Stiftung Wissenschagt und Politik, Ebenhausen, Germany.