Middle East & North Africa

559 Items

People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip

AP/Ohad Zwigenberg

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

America Fueled the Fire in the Middle East

| Apr. 15, 2024

Stephen Walt argues that the tragic irony is that the individuals and organizations in the United States that have been the most ardent in shielding Israel from criticism and pushing one administration after another to back Israel, no matter what it does, have in fact done enormous damage to the country that they were trying to help.

The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, and his wife, Michal Herzog, landing in Abu Dhabi

Wikimedia CC/Amos Ben Gershom / Government Press Office of Israel

Journal Article - Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs

The "Age of Normalizations"— An Overdue Post-Mortem

| 2024

Prior to October 7, 2023, the defining feature of Israeli foreign policy was the drive to normalize ties with Arab states, thereby "shrinking” the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and assembling Iran's rivals into a broad regional coalition. Despite the endurance of interests that made such a pursuit desirable, the most lucrative selling point of normalization—the ability to develop it into a diplomatic construct with which to contain Iran—had already expired prior to October 7, along with the essential contextual condition for such a deal: broad US support. Rather, the "Age of Normalizations," a period in which diplomatic normalization could feasibly serve as the kernel of Israeli strategy, expired in late 2021 as a consequence of the Biden administration's volte-face in the Middle East.

Donald Trump

AP/Charles Krupa

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Another Trump Presidency Won't Much Change U.S. Foreign Policy

| Jan. 22, 2024

Stephen Walt writes that the differences in foreign policy will be less significant than one may think. Consider how Trump and Biden would each likely deal with the three most important items on the current foreign-policy agenda: Ukraine, China, and the Middle East.

Houthi supporters chant slogans holding signs reading "Death to America, Death to Israel"

AP/Hani Mohammed, File

Journal Article - Journal of Applied History

Two Types of Applied History

| December 2023

In recent years, a concerted effort has been made to build up and delineate a discipline of applied history. But there has been little discussion about what applied history is, how the discipline navigates a range of epistemological problems, and how applied history is distinct from other disciplines that use historical data and attend to matters of policy—particularly political science. This article considers some of these questions with respect to two common methods of applied history: analogy and genealogy.