In partnership with the Wood River Jewish Community.
During the fifteen years of the 21st century, the Middle East remains awash with change. Autocratic Arab leaders have been pushed from power, some Arab states are imploding. Confessional, tribal, ethnic and religious identities have accompanied fanatical Islam and virulent anti-Semitism. Sectarian violence abounds and a Muslim cold war has already begun. What can the next president do to manage the difficulties inherent in political Islam, the growth of insurgencies, the unresolved Arab/Palestinian -Israeli conflicts, the weakening of Middle Eastern states, and a revitalized Iran and Russia that seek major roles in determining the region’s future? If we are at a precipice of changing borders and renewed conflicts, how might the Middle East be reconfigured?
Kenneth Stein is Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Political Science and Israeli Studies at Emory University.
