A US Pivot Away from the Middle East: Fact or Fiction? is a collection of essays tackling different aspects of a potential American pivot away from the Middle East and toward addressing, among other aspects, the challenge that China presents for US foreign policy.
Over the last decade, there have been ongoing debates about US disengagement from the Middle East. At the same time, Russia and China have stepped up their roles and investments in the Arab world and have sought greater influence in the region. In response to this, ACW organized a half-day conference on May 18, 2023, to discuss the notion of US disengagement and a pivot away from the Middle East, the realities and dimensions of this perceived retreat, and the question of whether a new multipolar international political order is emerging in light of these shifts.
The general conclusion from the conference speakers (and this subsequent volume’s contributing authors) is that the United States is not fully disengaging from the Middle East but rather recalibrating its priorities and positions in the region while simultaneously devoting resources, time, and effort to maintaining as much influence in the Indo-Pacific region as possible to preserve its interests there.
Editors
Imad K. Harb, David Kanbergs
Contributors
Sahar Aziz, Charles W. Dunne, Mark Finley, Imad K. Harb, Waleed Hazbun, Khalil E. Jahshan, Patricia Karam, Tamara Kharroub, Lina Khatib, Rami G. Khouri, Nabeel Khoury, Yousef Munayyer, Mahsa Rouhi, Yun Sun, Sarah Leah Whitson, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
Book Chapters
The Past and Future of the American “Pivot to Asia”
by Charles W. Dunne
US Military Strategy in the Middle East and the Challenge of Demilitarization
by Waleed Hazbun
The Economic Dimension of a Pivot Away from the Middle East
by Mark Finley
Current US-China Relations and the Pivot to Asia
by Yun Sun
The US Pivot in the Context of Great Power Competition: A New Multipolar Global Order?
by Patricia Karam
Arab Views on an American Pivot Away from the Middle East
by Rami G. Khouri
The Greatly Exaggerated US Pivot and America’s Failures on Human Rights
by Sarah Leah Whitson
The US Pivot and Great Cyberpower Competition in the MENA Region
by Tamara Kharroub
The US-Israel Nexus and the Question of a Pivot
by Yousef Munayyer
The United States and the Arabian Peninsula
by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
Declining American Influence in the Middle East: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya
by Nabeel Khoury
The Syrian Conflict: A Turning Point in US Middle East Policy
by Lina Khatib
The Mutual Pivot to Asia in US-Egypt Relations
by Sahar Aziz
Iran and the Perceived US Pivot Away from the Middle East
Mahsa Rouhi
The US in the Middle East: Staying Put While Simultaneously Pivoting
by Imad K. Harb
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Sahar Aziz
Mark Finley
Lina Khatib
Mahsa Rouhi
Yun Sun
