American Foreign Policy to the Middle East: Johnson to Biden

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ASMEA Academic Council member and Emory University professor Prof. Kenneth W. Stein led the Webinar "American Foreign Policy to the Middle East: Johnson to Biden" on Tuesday, April 6 at 12:00pm EST. 

Since the end of World War II, American foreign policy to the Middle East has shown remarkable consistency with and without the Cold War coloring American attitudes. Washington has consistently supported moderate Arab states (however they were defined), defined and maintained a strategic relationship with Israel, albeit with hiccups over seven decades, access to oil at a reasonable price,  engaged in Arab-Israeli mediation (characterized by activism and passivity),  and,  containment against something considered nefarious (foreign penetration of the region, spread of terrorism, WMDs, and radical destabilizing ideologies). Set in this context, Professor Stein will look at various American efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He will try and pinpoint the reality that Washington has focused on cultivating transactions between the parties but not transformations.  Is it possible that even with good intentions, all the US can realistically accomplish are fostering transactions, and forced to postpone the inevitable indefinitely? 

Click here to access sources that Prof. Stein mentioned in his webinar discussion.