The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East

by Steven A. Cook

A clear-headed vision for the United States' role in the Middle East that highlights the changing nature of US national interests and the challenges of grand strategizing at a time of profound change in the international order.

Following a long series of catastrophic misadventures in the Middle East over the last two decades, the American foreign policy community has tried to understand what went wrong. After weighing the evidence, they have mostly advised a retreat from the region. The basic view is that when the United States tries to advance change in the Middle East, it only makes matters worse.

In The End of Ambition, Steven A. Cook argues that while these analysts are rightly concerned that engagement drains US resources and distorts its domestic politics, the broader impulse to disengage tends to neglect important lessons from the past. Moreover, advocates of pulling back overlook the potential risks of withdrawal. Covering the relationship between the US and the Middle East since the end of WWII, Cook makes the bold claim that despite setbacks and moral costs, the United States has been overwhelmingly successful in protecting its core national interests in the Middle East. Conversely, overly ambitious policies to remake the region and leverage US power not only ended in failure, but rendered the region unstable in new and largely misunderstood ways.

While making the case that retrenchment is not the answer to America's problems in the Middle East, The End of Ambition highlights how America's interests in the region have begun to change and critically examines alternative approaches to US-Middle East policy. Cook highlights the challenges that policymakers and analysts confront developing a new strategy for the United States in the Middle East against the backdrop of both political uncertainty in the United States and a changing global order.

Genres: Middle East, Politics, International Relations

205 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2024

About the author

Steven A. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also the author of The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Ruling But Not Governing: The Military and Political Development in Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007). Cook contributes regularly to foreign policy journals such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and The New Republic. He also runs a blog about Middle Eastern politics and history.

Cook travels to the Middle East, usually Turkey and Egypt, several times a year and has lived in Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Ankara, and Ramallah. He knows three languages: English, Arabic, and Turkish. His research is primarily steeped in civil-military relations in the Middle East and he appears frequently on television and radio interviews to provide expert commentary on unfolding current events in the Middle East.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen A. Cook's "The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East" is a captivating and thought-provoking exploration of America's role in the tumultuous region. Cook, a renowned expert on Middle Eastern politics and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, delves deep into the complex history and dynamics that have shaped US policy towards the Middle East. From the early days of colonialism to the present day, Cook skillfully traces the evolution of America's ambitions in the region, highlighting the highs and lows of US involvement. He provides a comprehensive analysis of key events such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iraq War, and the Arab Spring, offering insightful perspectives on the successes and failures of US foreign policy. A compelling aspect of Cook's book is his examination of the shifting power dynamics in the Middle East and the implications for American interests. He argues that the era of unchallenged American dominance in the region is coming to an end, as rising powers such as China and Russia exert their influence and regional actors assert their own agendas. Cook's writing is engaging, making complex political concepts easy to understand for readers of all backgrounds. His vivid storytelling and vivid anecdotes bring the history of the Middle East to life, making "The End of Ambition" a page-turner from start to finish. Ultimately, Cook's book serves as a wake-up call for policymakers and citizens alike, urging a reevaluation of America's role in the Middle East. With its timely analysis and compelling narrative, "The End of Ambition" is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the past, present, and future of US-Middle East relations.

[Mark Ehlers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent and concise summary of America's role in the Middle East and how the exercise of U.S. influence in the region has shifted from a focus on protecting U.S. interests (preventing the disruption of oil exports from the region, protecting Israel's security interests, and containing the Soviet Union during the Cold War) to a more ambitious agenda of promoting American values (democracy, human rights, freedom, political reform, etc.). Cook's thesis is that when American presidents and the foreign policy establishment have understood the limits of American power in the Middle East and exercised that power to achieve a set of limited goals, they have generally succeeded (admittedly at a moral cost of having to align with some unsavory foreign leaders and compromising American values). Conversely, when the United States has sought to transform the region to be more like us (e.g., the disastrous Iraq war) or embarked on grand and ambitious initiatives such as attempting to aggressively broker Israeli-Palestinian peace or democratizing the Arab world, we have mostly failed. Cook suggests that these grand initiatives, while worthy and desirable, are not going to happen unless and until the involved people and countries choose to do so. Although I am not certain I agree with all of Cook's points, he is extremely knowledgeable about the region's complexities and realities, how conflicting interests must be balanced, the challenges posed to U.S. interests from the rising influence of Russia and China in the Middle East, and how the U.S. can best navigate the changing global order. He does not shy away from the moral imperative of human rights and the pursuit of peace between Israel and Palestine, but simply presents the realities confronting American policymakers and offers important suggestions for how the U.S. can more effectively protect its interests while remaining engaged in a way that positively and more effectively influences peace and reform in the region.

[Ruxandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The assumptions challenged by this book:

(1) The US successfully secured its interests in the Middle East throughout the Cold War. Those interests prevented the disruption of oil exports from the region, helped to forestall threats to Israeli security, and, during the Cold War, prevented the Soviet Union from trying to dominate the region. It was worth paying the price and the moral costs.

(2) Attempts to positively transform the politics and society in the Middle East led to policy failures. When the US sought to prevent “bad things” from happening to its interests, it succeeded. However, when Washington sought to leverage its power to make “good things” happen in the service of its interests, it often failed. It means that the US can do little to improve human right records, pursue political reform, and embark on more-inclusive economic policies of their partners across the world. For democracies, you need democrats.

(3) Withdrawal or pivoting away from the region would be too radical, self-defeating for the US; the Middle East remains important for the US. The challenge for policymakers is to develop a set of achievable goals in a part of the world that will remain critical in global politics and thus to the US. The Middle East is truly the middle, connecting core US global interests in the stability of Europe, the extraction and transport of energy resources, with opportunities in Asia. It is also a region comprising countries that are most vulnerable to the climate crisis, where extremism persists, and the danger of nuclear proliferation remains.

(4) The Middle East will also play a role in the development of a new global order precisely because the great powers continue to be interested in the region. Actors in this region have agency too – governments in the Middle East are determined to shape their own neighbourhood rather than watch the Americans, Russians, Europeans, and Chinese do it for them. Washington must partner with countries that will play critical roles in international security, the global economy, and world culture.

[Christopher Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history of American Middle East policy over the past 20 years, but light on the future outlook and policy recommendations.

[xiaobao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please don't cover US aggressiveness with "democracy promotion." There's no such thing all the time. Be an adult.