Crescent of Crisis: U.S.-European Strategy for the Greater Middle East

by Ivo H. Daalder (Editor), Nicole Gnesotto (Editor), Philip H. Gordon (Editor)

Overview

"The greater Middle East region is beset by a crescent of crises, stretching from Pakistan through Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Together, these five crises pose the most pressing security challenges faced by the United States and its European allies—ranging from terrorism and weapons proliferation to the rise of fundamentalism and the lack of democracy. Until now, Europe and the United States have approached these issues (indeed, the Middle East as a whole) in differing ways, with little effective coordination of policy. In fact, how best to deal with the greater Middle East has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in U.S.-European relations. The need for a common approach to the region is more evident than ever. This book brings together some of Europe and America's leading scholars and practitioners in an effort to develop a common approach to resolving the five major crises in the region. European and American authors provide succinct and fact-filled overviews of the different crises, describe U.S. and European perspectives on the way forward, and suggest ways in which the United States and Europe can better cooperate. In the conclusion, the editors synthesize the different suggestions into a roadmap for U.S.-European cooperation for addressing the challenges of the Greater Middle East in the years ahead. Contributors include Stephen Cohen (Brookings Institution), James Dobbins (RAND), Toby Dodge (University of London), Martin Indyk (Saban Center at Brookings), Kenneth Pollack (Saban Center at Brookings), Jean-Luc Racine (Center for the Study of India and South Asia), Barnett Rubin (New York University), Yezid Sayigh (University of Cambridge), and Bruno Tertrais (Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique).

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815716891
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/10/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	263
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Ivo H. Daalder is U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Previously, he was a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and the Sydney Stein Jr. Chair in International Security at the Brookings Institution. He is the coauthor, with James M. Lindsay, of "America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy" (Brookings, 2003) and the coauthor of "Winning Ugly: NATO's War to Save Kosovo" (Brookings, 2001), written with Michael E. O'Hanlon. Nicole Gnesotto is the vice president of Notre Europe. Previously, she was director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies. She has served as deputy head of the French Foreign Ministry's Centre d'Analyse et de Prevision and is the author of many publications on strategic issues and European security, in particular. Philip H. Gordon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former director for European Affairs at the National Security Council. His books include "Winning the Right War: The Path to Security for America and the World" (Times Books, 2007) and "Allies at War: America, Europe, and the Crisis over Iraq" (McGraw Hill, 2004).

Table of Contents

Ivo H. Daalder is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. From 1995 to 1996 he was director for European affairs on President Clinton's national security council staff. A specialist in American foreign policy, European security, and national security affairs, Daalder has authored ten books, including most recently the award-winning America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (with James M. Lindsay), which was chosen by The Economist as one of the year's best books on politics and current affairs.

Nicole Gnesotto is the director of the Institute for Security Studies of the European Union. She has served as deputy head of the French Foreign Ministry's Centre d'Analyse et de Prevision and is the author of many publications on strategic issues and European security, in particular.

Philip H. Gordon is director of the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe and a senior fellow in the Brookings Foreign Policy Studies program. He is the author of a number of books and essays on Europe and the Middle East, including most recently, Allies at War: America, Europe, and the Crisis over Iraq (with Jeremy Shapiro).

What People are Saying About This

William Kristol

"In an age of too many books, and too many essays, this is a rare bird-a useful, worthwhile, and interesting collection of articles on an important topic. There's a lot of material in here that's worth reading, and worth thinking about."
—Editor, The Weekly Standard

Francois Heisbourg

"Crescent of Crisis is a groundbreaking attempt to devise a truly joint U.S.-European strategy towards the world's number one trouble spot. No better team could have been put together for this purpose."
—Special Adviser, Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique, Paris

Bruce W. Jentleson

"This is a timely and important American-European collaboration, dealing with some of the Atlantic alliance's toughest issues, and doing so with expertise, savvy, and originality."
—Duke University

Editorial Reviews

Pairs of matching chapters by an American and a European (in one case, two Europeans) treat the possibility and desirability of a more integrated Western strategy toward Iran, Israel and the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A concluding chapter by the editors sums up the findings and proposes a more institutionalized pattern of both ongoing consultation between the United States and the European Union and joint policy formulation. The individual chapters offer concise statements of the dominant issues in each case. In the end, there is no disagreement between the American and European sides about the advantages of better coordination in dealing with the greater Middle East.

Foreign Affairs