As MESH approaches its second anniversary, we seek foundation support to allow us to continue our work and expand in new directions. Interested? Please contact us. And if you have ties to a foundation, please recommend MESH.

This will be my last post on MESH for the foreseeable future. On Monday I will take up new responsibilities that will take me away from the wonderful discussion that unfolds on this page. I’ll be serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, with specific policy responsibilities that include democracy and human rights (and, yes, the Middle East Partnership Initiative) along with public diplomacy.

MESH has done what some thought impossible: built a successful and well-read group blog on Middle East affairs, one that produces a sustained, relatively unpoliticized, thoughtful, and empirically grounded discussion among academics and policy analysts on the politics of the contemporary Middle East. I’ll admit that, at the start, I was skeptical about the project Stephen Peter Rosen and Martin Kramer proposed—but they convinced me to give it a try, and they, along with my excellent colleagues on this blog, have built a rich conversation that brings together multiple perspectives and disciplines in a way that is always fresh, and very often truly enlightening, even for experts in many regional policy topics. I have learned a lot here, and for that I am grateful to Stephen, Martin, and all my smart and dedicated fellow MESH members.

The associated paper series, conferences, and other activities have built on the value of this unique forum and demonstrated the payoff from continued dialogue between the ivory tower and those inside the Beltway over Middle East policy. That’s a lesson I’ll certainly bring with me into the State Department, and I look forward to reading and learning from my MESH colleagues in the months and years to come.

Comments are limited to MESH members and invitees.

On October 22-24, 2009, the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) held its second annual conference, entitled “The Middle East and Africa: Historic Connections and Strategic Bridges.” At the welcoming reception on the first night, Vice President Peter Pham announced the creation of the new, refereed journal, The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, to be released early in 2010. The subjects for the journal—as a reflection of the unique approach of the association—will fall within a broad range of geography, encourage multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives, and will not shy away from offering scholarship that will have policy-relevance as well as academic merit. As much as we value high quality scholarship at ASMEA, we also believe it is imperative to share such scholarship with elements of the government—and anyone else for that matter—who seek a deeper understanding of the issues in our regions.

ASMEA has made tremendous strides in just two years from its founding. For its first annual conference, it had 19 presentations, two roundtables, and a keynote speech by the association’s co-founder, Bernard Lewis. Lewis and Fouad Ajami co-founded ASMEA to defend free inquiry, expand the boundaries of scholarship, and respond to the growing need for a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to studying the cultures, histories, and issues of the Middle East and Africa. It was therefore fitting that in his speech, Lewis examined the threat to the freedom of scholarly inquiry and the prospects for improving the discipline. As a result that conference, Praeger Security International will soon release ASMEA’s first edited book, entitled Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad, in November 2009. The book is based on many of the presentations given at that conference, edited by ASMEA’s Treasurer, Joe Skelly.

For its second conference, ASMEA accepted over 50 presentations from over 100 submissions, with some 42 universities represented on three continents. We also had three special presentations. Ambassador John Bolton, Dr. Gerard Prunier, and Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez made up the roster for the special presentations on topics ranging from the UN in Africa, to racism in the Sudan, to evaluating the sources of interpretations of Soviet involvement in the Middle East from 1967 to 1973. We also had our first cooperative effort with Marine Corps University, in which professors from MCU held their own unique panel of presentations on teaching about this region.

Bernard Lewis gave the keynote speech for the conference. In fact, it is probably fair to say that he, again, stole the show with his lunchtime presentation on “The Iranian Difference.”

The presentations were as diverse in their subject and disciplinary perspectives as is the membership of ASMEA. Members of ASMEA are citizens from 46 different countries, have established a presence on over 350 university campuses in 38 different countries. Members with Ph.D.’s have them in 41 different academic disciplines. All the academic papers that were given at this conference are in the running for selection for ASMEA’s new journal. We welcome submissions from others, as well.

In my view, the energy, excitement, and enthusiasm for this new community of scholars was palpable at this conference. Anecdotally, many people made exceptionally favorable comments on the conference. Several members of MESH were also present, and I would appreciate their evaluation of the conference as well.

We will soon post the video of Lewis’ new talk on ASMEA’s website and list the papers that were presented. Look for announcements of our new journal’s publication. And start planning now to attend next year’s conference.

On Saturday, October 17, at The Washington Institute’s annual Weinberg Founders Conference at Lansdowne, I was privileged to serve as master of ceremonies for the announcement of our second annual Book Prize for outstanding books on the Middle East published in the previous year. This is a major literary award, one of the most lucrative for non-fiction works in the world. And this year’s winners—chosen by a three-person panel of jurors that included Washington Post/Newsweek columnist Lally Weymouth; former State Department counselor (and SAIS professor) Eliot Cohen; and Emory University Middle East professor Ken Stein—merited every dollar in prize money… and more.

The first prize, worth $30,000, went to Ronald and Allis Radosh’s A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel; the second ($15,000) went to Ali A. Allawi’s The Crisis of Islamic Civilization; and the third ($5,000) went to Martin Indyk’s Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East. What a broad, fascinating and provocative array of books! They include a history of what was perhaps the most contrary decision an American president has ever taken on Middle East policy (Harry Truman’s decision to buck the Foggy Bottom establishment and recognize the new Jewish state of Israel); a bold and courageous account by an Iraqi intellectual cum public servant about what ails Muslim societies and how to fix it; and a wonderfully introspective retrospective on a scholar-diplomat’s time on the front lines in the Middle East (and the no-less-violent battles about the Middle East back in Washington). I have no role in these decisions—we are scrupulous about having an independent, omnipotent jury whose members don’t even know the identities of their fellow jurors—but I was thrilled with how their deliberations came out.

For more information on our Book Prize winners, click here.

We’ve been preoccupied at MESH with our Thursday, April 30 symposium on “Iran: Threat, Challenge, or Opportunity?” at Harvard. The symposium will begin at 4:00 pm, and will proceed in two panels:

• Analogies

Michael Mandelbaum, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
Martin Kramer, Olin Institute, Harvard University
Jacqueline Newmyer, Long Term Strategy Group
Alan Dowty, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame

• Engagement

Robert Satloff, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Mark N. Katz, George Mason University
Michael Singh, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Michael Doran, New York University

Venue: Belfer Case Study Room (S020), CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street (map). Open to the public. Symposium ends at 6:45 pm.

For those who can’t attend, we will do our best to have some of the proceedings posted here over the next couple of weeks.

Middle East Strategy at Harvard (MESH) is a virtual reality every day of this semester—except one. On Thursday, April 30, MESH will sponsor an afternoon symposium under the title “Iran: Threat, Challenge, or Opportunity?” The event will offer the Harvard community a sample of current thinking from a selection of MESH members and others. In a rapid sequence of short presentations—inspired by the blog format of MESH—eight authorities will address one of the most pressing issues on the U.S. strategic agenda.

The symposium will begin at 4:00 pm, and will proceed in two panels:

• Analogies

Michael Mandelbaum, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
Martin Kramer, Olin Institute, Harvard University
Jacqueline Newmyer, Long Term Strategy Group
Alan Dowty, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame

• Engagement

Robert Satloff, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Mark N. Katz, George Mason University
Michael Singh, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Michael Doran, New York University

Venue: Belfer Case Study Room (S020), CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street (map). Open to the public. Symposium ends at 6:45 pm.

••

There are a limited number of places available to Harvard faculty and graduate students in a MESH-sponsored working session on possible Iranian nuclear doctrines. This session immediately precedes the public symposium described above, and will run from 2:00 pm to 3:45 pm. Opening presenters:

Stephen Peter Rosen, Olin Institute, Harvard University
Vipin Narang, Belfer Center, Harvard University

If you wish to attend, write to this email address.

It’s time to remind new authors (and their publishers) that the May 1 deadline for the 2009 Washington Institute Book Prize approaches. This prize, inaugurated last year, is awarded annually to three outstanding new books that have illuminated the Middle East for American readers. It is also one of the most rewarding prizes in publishing. Gold Prize is $30,000, Silver Prize is $15,000, and Bronze Prize is $5,000. Watch one of last year’s jurors, Michael Mandelbaum (who is also a member of MESH), announce the 2008 prizes in this clip (if you don’t see the embedded video, click here).

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Or read the Book Prize citations for the 2008 winners here. You may also watch Yaroslav Trofimov, author of The Siege of Mecca, accept the 2008 Gold Prize here.

The deadline for the 2009 competition is May 1, 2009, for books published during the year prior to the deadline. Read the full rules here.

Last year’s prizes went to scholars and journalists, university press books and trade hardcovers, works on history and politics. For the new crop of books, The Washington Institute Book Prize has a fresh new panel of three independent jurors, to keep things interesting. If you’ve authored or published a book over the past year, don’t miss the opportunity to submit.

As everyone who follows the Middle East knows, in recent years there’s been a veritable explosion of Arabic language news sources on the region. The proliferation of satellite news channels, blogs, and websites offers Middle Easterners and outside scholars a lot of choices.

Traditionally, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has been focused on providing timely information and analysis for U.S. policymakers. Recognizing the importance of the Middle East audience, however, in early January, the Institute rolled out its new Arabic language website, here.

The site features translations of the analysis of Institute scholars, including articles from its Policywatch series and op-eds from U.S. newspapers. Translations of archived materiel will be added over time.

The site is an important new resource. Please take a look, and let your Arabic-speaking colleagues know that the Institute’s site is now available in the language of the ḍād.

The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power. The problem for Islam is not the CIA or the U.S. Department of Defense. It is the West, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the universality of their culture and believe that their superior, if declining, power imposes on them the obligation to extend that culture throughout the world. These are the basic ingredients that fuel conflict between Islam and the West.

—Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996)

Sam Huntington died this past Wednesday (December 24) in a nursing facility near his home on Martha’s Vineyard. Among his many achievements and activities, he directed the (Weatherhead) Center for International Affairs from 1978 to 1989, and founded Harvard’s John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, which he directed from 1989 to 1999. The Weatherhead Center has issued a statement comprised of an obituary, selected quotes from his work, first reactions to his passing by Harvard faculty members, and his c.v. An obituary also appears in the Harvard Gazette.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has launched a book prize for the three best books on the Middle East published in the previous year. I had the honor and pleasure of serving as one of the three jurors for the inaugural awards, along with Jim Hoagland and Bernard Lewis. The first prize, worth $30,000, went to Yaroslav Trofimov’s The Siege of Mecca; the second to Foxbats Over Dimona by Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez; the third to Anthony Pagden’s Worlds at War. While we did not plan it this way (in fact, none of the three judges knew the identity of the other two until the decisions had been made), I am pleased that we chose three worthy but very different books: a gripping piece of investigative journalism, a provocative and controversial revisionist account of a major episode in 20th-century history, and a graceful, sweeping synthesis of two and one half millennia of history. Each of the books draws on the past—from the very recent to the very distant past—to provide insight into issues confronting the people and governments of the Middle East, and those outside the region who must deal with them—today.

Below is a clip of my announcement of the winners. (If you don’t see it, click here.) The jury’s commendations may be read here.