Summary: Innocent Abroad E-Book

BusinessNews Publishing

• Herausgeber: Political Book Summaries
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 23

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The must-read summary of Martin Indyk's book: “Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East”.

This complete summary of "Innocent Abroad" by Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador who had years of intense involvement in the Middle East, outlines the writers argument that making peace in the Middle East is one of America’s top priorities. He examines the ironic consequences and the obstacles that have been overcome in the past and illustrates a new way forward for the Obama administration.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand conflict in the Middle East and how it might be dealt with
• Expand your knowledge of American politics and international relations

To learn more, read "Innocent Abroad" and discover why previous US governments have struggled to make peace in the Middle East, and what might be done about it by future administrations.

Leseprobe

Book Presentation: Innocent Abroad by Martin Indyk

Book Abstract

Making peace in the long-troubled Middle East is one of America’s top priorities and in Innocent Abroad, Martin Indyk draws on his many years of intense involvement in the region to provide an examination of the ironic consequences that occur when American naïveté meets Middle Eastern cynicism in the region’s political bazaars. He examines the obstacles that have confounded the efforts of recent presidents and distills the lessons of past failures to chart a new way forward for the Obama administration.

About the Author

Martin Indyk is a leading expert on the Middle East. He served as top diplomat during the Clinton administration and worked at the highest levels developing and implementing American policy towards the Middle East. In particular, he worked closely with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat in trying to craft a comprehensive peace agreement that would have resolved the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Currently, Indyk is the Director of the Saban Center for Middle Eastern Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Summary of Innocent Abroad (Martin Indyk)

Introduction

Recently, the news from the Middle East has been grim. The peace process, which engendered much optimism during the Clinton administration, has largely been derailed, partly by the Bush administration’s missteps. Clinton, of course, failed in his bid to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which led many cynics to conclude that Middle Eastern diplomacy was futile. The lesson the Bush administration drew from Clinton’s failures led it to take a hands-off approach to the peace process. This approach, however, has arguably been an even greater failure as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has escalated and volatility in the Middle East has increased.

Clinton tried to harness America’s unique spirit of idealism and optimism to help bring peace and stability to the long-troubled Middle East. To this end, Clinton relied heavily on the conventional tools of statecraft, especially diplomacy. Bush, in contrast, sought to transform the Middle East in a less conventional way – i.e., by leveraging America’s military might to remove Saddam Hussein and promote democracy in the Middle East. Bush had some successes along the way, but there are many unintended consequences flowing from his ambitions, such as the chaos and sectarian strife ignited by the war in Iraq, the increased influence of Iran in the Persian Gulf, the growing Shiite-Sunni rift in the region, and the empowerment of Islamist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. The latter consequence, in particular, followed from Bush’s insistence that democratic elections proceed in Gaza.