Strategic Studies Institute

Middle East & North Africa Studies

Added December 01, 2005

Type: Monograph

Revisions in Need of Revising: What Went Wrong in the Iraq War. Authored by Dr. David C Hendrickson, Dr. Robert W Tucker.

The authors examine the contentious debate over the Iraq war and occupation, focusing on the critique that the Bush administration squandered an historic opportunity to reconstruct the Iraqi state. They argue that the most serious problems facing Iraq and its American occupiers—criminal anarchy and lawlessness, a raging insurgency and a society divided into rival and antagonistic groups—were virtually inevitable consequences that flowed from the act of war itself.

Added November 01, 2005

Type: Monograph

Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran. Edited by Mr. Henry D. Sokolski, Mr. Patrick Clawson.

This book examines what additional security threats Iran might pose as it becomes increasingly capable of making nuclear weapons, what steps the United States and its friends might take to deter and contain it, and what should be done to assure Iran's neighbors do not follow in Tehran's nuclear footsteps.

Added October 01, 2005

Type: Monograph

Precedents, Variables, and Options in Planning a U.S. Military Disengagement Strategy from Iraq. Authored by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill, Dr. Conrad C. Crane.

The questions of how to empower the Iraqis most effectively and then progressively withdraw non-Iraqi forces from that country is one of the most important policy problems currently facing the United States. The authors seek to present the U.S. situation in Iraq in all of its complexity and ambiguity, with policy recommendations for how that withdrawal strategy might be most effectively implemented.

Added August 01, 2005

Type: Student (Carlisle) Papers

Tribal Alliances: Ways, Means, and ends to Successful Strategy. Authored by Richard L Taylor.

National Security and National Military Strategy to be successful must utilize all elements and tools of power at its disposal. Recognition of the potential value of tribal organizations, particularly in the "arc of instability stretching from the Western Hemisphere, through Africa and the Middle East and extending to Asia" is a must to enhance successful peace and stability operations.

Added July 01, 2005

Type: Monograph

Democratization Vs. Liberalization in the Arab World: Dilemmas and Challenges for U.S. Foreign Policy. Authored by Dr. Daniel Brumberg.

Liberalized autocracy is a system of rule allowing for a measure of political openness and competition in the electoral, party, and press arenas, while ensuring that power rests in the hands of ruling regimes. While the United States supports such hybrid systems, whether the gap between words and deeds should or can be closed or narrowed is a complex question, since a sudden move from state-managed liberalization to democracy could open the door to Islamist power.

Added March 01, 2005

Type: Monograph

Saudi Arabia: Islamic Threat, Political Reform, and the Global War on Terror. Authored by Dr. Sherifa D. Zuhur.

What should the United States do about Saudi Arabia? What is the best course for strategic cooperation with Saudi Arabia in light of Islamic extremism in the Kingdom, and calls for political and religious reform?

Added February 01, 2005

Type: Monograph

Strategic Implications of Intercommunal Warfare in Iraq. Authored by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill.

This study considers the regional consequences of intercommunal warfare in Iraq by examining how such an eventuality may develop and how neighboring states might become involved in such a conflict. This work does not predict an Iraqi civil war but rather views it as a worst-case eventuality. The danger of an Iraqi civil war requires serious U.S. cooperation with those regional states that also have a stake in preventing this outcome.