PUBLICATIONS
The Dubai Initiative publishes the works of its Senior Fellows, Research Fellows, Associates, and others affiliated with the organization. We also offer complimentary hard-copies of our Working Papers and Policy Briefs series. Please contact us at dubai_initiative@hks.harvard.edu for more information.
AP Photo
January-March 2009
"Is It Love or The Lobby? Explaining America's Special Relationship with Israel"
Security Studies, issue 1, volume 18
By John J. Mearsheimer, Editorial Board Member, Quarterly Journal: International Security and Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program
"In The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, we argued that the "special relationship" between the United States and Israel is due largely to the influence of a domestic interest group—comprised of Jews as well as non-Jews—and that this unusual situation is harmful to both the United States and Israel....[P]ublic opinion in the United States does not explain why the United States gives Israel such extensive and nearly unconditional backing. Although most Americans have a favorable image of Israel, surveys show that they also favor a more even-handed Middle East policy and a more normal relationship with Israel. Thus, the special relationship is due primarily to the lobby's influence, and not to the American people's enduring identification with the Jewish state."
Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
January 30, 2011
The wrong friends
Boston Globe
By David Mednicoff, Former Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
For decades, American policy in the Arab world has rested on the assumption that secular governments are better.
In a region prone to religious violence and sorely lacking in democratic government, the thinking goes, it is secular regimes that hold the most promise for change, and have been the easiest for us to support. Though perhaps never stated in such simple terms, this thinking underlies much of our diplomacy and analysis of a volatile and strategically important region.
January 18, 2011
A Conversation About Tunisia
By David Mednicoff, Former Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
Tunisia's interim leaders have announced a new government, following the ouster of President Zine Ben Ali amid massive street protests. WFCR's Bob Paquette discusses the situation in Tunisia with David Mednicoff, Dubai Initiative Research Fellow and Acting Director of the Social Thought and Political Economy Program at UMass-Amherst.
Spring 2007
"Proliferation Gamesmanship: Iran and the Politics of Nuclear Confrontation"
Syracuse Law Review, issue 3, volume 57
By Steven E. Miller, Director, International Security Program; Editor-in-Chief, International Security; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
This article was prepared for the Symposium on A Nuclear Iran: The Legal Implications of a Preemptive National Security Strategy held at the Syracuse University School of Law, Syracuse, New York, 26-27 October 2006.
Winter 2007
"The Iraq Experiment and US National Security"
Survival, issue 4, volume 48
By Steven E. Miller, Director, International Security Program; Editor-in-Chief, International Security; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
This article was prepared for a Council on Foreign Relations/International Institute for Strategic Studies Symposium on Iraq's Impact on the Future of US Foreign and Defence Policy, with generous support from Rita E. Hauser.
November 24, 2008
"The Sunni-Shia Divide and the Future of Islam"
By Vali Nasr
Vali Nasr was interviewed by Krista Trippet for the NPR show, Speaking of Faith, on the Sunni-Shia Divide and the Future of Islam.
Listen to the program here.
AP Photo
October 13, 2008
"Obama Is Right About Talking to Iran"
Wall Street Journal
By Vali Nasr
"Many have assumed that Russia can help solve the Iran problem, but few have considered that the reverse is also true. Iran is important to Russia's game plan and how Moscow weighs its options going forward. That makes talking to Iran an essential part of America's plans for containing Russia."
June 19, 2008
"Iran on Its Heels"
Washington Post
By Vali Nasr
Iran still has considerable influence in Iraq. It may reconstitute the Mahdi Army and pick up the fight against America, using special groups of the type suspected in the Baghdad car bombing Tuesday. It may also try to use nationalist opposition to the U.S.-Iraq "status of forces" agreement to its advantage. But Tehran will find it difficult to regain lost turf in Baghdad or Basra, or to go back to happily supporting Shiites both at the center and in the militias. It will have to choose whether it is with the state or the sub-state actors.
June 18, 2008
Vali Nasr Discusses Iraq on Charlie Rose
By Vali Nasr
DI Senior Fellow Vali Nasr tells Charlie Rose about his recent trip to Iraq. The Council on Foreign Relation's Stephen Biddle and the New York Times' Michael Gordon also weigh in.
Watch the full program here.
AP Photo
January 8, 2008
US-Iran Relations
By Vali Nasr
Vali Nasr discusses current tensions between the United States and Iran on The World.
