US Policy in the Middle East: Past, Present, and Future

On an average of once per decade since the 1950s, the United States has attempted to oust governments in the Middle East—Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria. The motives and methods used in these interventions have been varied, but they share several commonalities: a failure to achieve their goals, heavy financial and human costs, a range of unintended consequences, and in many cases leaving both the targeted country and the United States worse off than they were before.

In his new book, Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East, former Obama administration official Philip H. Gordon examines this fraught legacy and suggests lessons for the future. In a moderated discussion with Academy president Daniel Benjamin, Gordon will discuss the history of US intervention in the Middle East and what may lie ahead for American policy in the region, whether under a Republican or Democratic president.

You can find Gordon’s book online here: https://www.cfr.org/book/losing-long-game