All Policy Analysis by Michael Eisenstadt

The time has come for policymakers to consider previously unexploited tools of leverage, including U.S. soft power.

During Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's visit to Washington next week, the Obama administration will likely seek to reinvigorate that country's flagging reconciliation process as part of ongoing efforts to establish a stable political order in Iraq. Progress, however, continues to be hindered by ongoing violence, deep-seated suspicions, and partisan

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Friday sermon, which called for an end to mass protests contesting the outcome of last week's presidential elections and which carried an implicit threat of "bloodshed and chaos" if they continued, has raised the stakes in the ongoing standoff between the government and opposition in Iran. The

An April 26 U.S. raid targeting a Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) financier in the Iraqi city of Kut, which inadvertently killed a civilian and a policeman, may mark the first of a series of tests for the Security Agreement between the United States and the Iraqi government. Iraqi prime minister Nouri

The next U.S. president will be a wartime president. Developments in the Middle East almost ensure that either John McCain or Barack Obama will have to manage one or more wars involving the United States or its allies in the region. The challenges posed by the Middle East are legion

On June 20, 2008, Michael Eisenstadt and Patrick Clawson addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. Eisenstadt is a senior fellow and director of the Institute's Military and Security Studies Program, and Dr. Clawson is deputy director of research at the Institute. The two recently coauthored The Last

Accepted wisdom suggests that preventive military action against Iran's nuclear program would entail significant risks and uncertain prospects of success. Much of the public debate surrounding these risks and uncertainties has focused on strictly military-technical considerations. Although important, these issues do not address the key political and contextual questions underlying

Despite functioning as a de facto state since its creation in 1994, the Palestinian Authority has long been crippled by "the four Fs": fawda (chaos), fitna (strife), falatan (lawlessness), and fassad (corruption). These conditions -- the hallmarks of state failure -- continue to define life in the PA-controlled West Bank

The September 6 Israeli airstrike in northeastern Syria has produced intense speculation. According to the New York Times, Israeli intelligence believes the target was part of a clandestine Syrian nuclear weapons program aided by North Korea. This raises broader questions about the status of Syria's strategic weapons programs, which would

A series of congressional hearings and media interviews by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker this week offered insights into the U.S. strategy in Iraq, and several yardsticks by which future progress there may be evaluated. Encouraging Numbers In his testimony to Congress, General Petraeus stated that "the military

AGENDA: IRAN A new series addressing the most difficult but vital questions for U.S. policymakers confronting the Iranian nuclear challenge. FORTHCOMING 2007 TITLES * Salvation by Aggression? Apocalyptic Visions and Iran's Security Policy By Mehdi Khalaji * The Last Resort: Potential Iranian Responses to Preventive Military Action By Patrick Clawson

On May 11, 2007, Charles Hill, Kurt Campbell, and Michael Eisenstadt addressed The Washington Institute's Soref Symposium. Mr. Hill is a diplomat-in-residence at Yale University. Dr. Campbell is cofounder and chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security. Mr. Eisenstadt is a senior fellow and director of

On April 26, 2007, Jeffrey White, Andrew Exum, and Michael Eisenstadt addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Mr. White is the Institute's Berrie defense fellow and coauthor, with Mr. Eisenstadt, of the Institute Policy Focus Assessing Iraq's Sunni Arab Insurgency. Mr. Exum, a Soref fellow at the Institute, served

According to press reports, one of the principal policy recommendations of the congressionally mandated Iraq Study Group will be that Washington should engage Iraq’s neighbors—particularly Syria and Iran—in its efforts to staunch the ongoing violence in Iraq. However, both historical precedent and current conditions on the ground in Iraq suggest