Shifting Sands

Joel S. Migdal is the Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, and has been writing about the Middle East and state-society relations worldwide for more than forty years. Among his books are The Palestinian People (with Baruch Kimmerling), Through the Lens of Israel, Strong Societies and Weak States, and State-in-Society.

• Preface Part I. Introduction 1. The Middle East in the Eye of the Global Storm 2. America's Place in the Middle East Part II. The Cold War and Its Aftermath 3. Failed Partnerships and Fragile Partners 4. Finding a Place in the Middle East: A New Partnership Develops out of Black September 5. The Strategic Partnership Faces Strains: The Yom Kippur War and the Changing Calculus of U.S. Foreign Policy 6. The Strategic Relationship Unravels: The End of the Cold War and the Gulf War of 1990-1991 Part III. A Transformed Region: The Rise and Fall of the Arab Middle East 7. A Changing Lineup of Regional Powerhouses 8. New Boys on the Block: Nonstate Actors 9. A Changing Islam and the Rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran Part IV. The United States and the New Middle East in the Twenty-First Century 10. The Bush Administration and the Arc of Instability 11. Obama: Engaging the Middle East on Multiple Fronts Part V. Conclusion: Looking Back and Looking Forward 12. Ups and Downs of an Everyday Player 13. Toward a New Strategic Partnership? Afterword Notes Works Cited Index

Shifting Sands is a compelling narrative of American policy in the Middle East since World War II. Joel S. Migdal dissects America's static strategic model in a region that has undergone four periods of profound change. He pushes back against those who would yield to the temptation of writing the Middle East off as beset by endemic instability. Rather, eschewing visions of grand change, Migdal suggests the temperate yet more effective approach of building alliances and fostering gradual change. This is a book to be read by policy makers and students of the Middle East alike. -- Daniel Kurtzer, Princeton University, former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel Exquisitely timely... Read this benchmark study at your earliest opportunity. -- Aharon Klieman Israel Studies Review Shifting Sands remains a powerful and vibrant account of the US foreign policy in the Middle East, with an authoritative analysis of the past, present (and future) socio-political dynamics of the region. European Review of International Studies