Wars of Ambition: The United States, Iran, and the Struggle for the Middle East

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Afshon Ostovar (Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute)

Wars of Ambition

The United States, Iran, and the Struggle for the Middle East

Afshon Ostovar (Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
15 August 2024

Middle Eastern history; Diplomacy

A gripping narrative history of one of the most complex and important conflicts in the world--the battle to dominate the Middle East regional order, from 2003 to the present

When President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, America's influence in the Middle East was relatively strong, and adversarial states were largely marginalized and contained. The September 11 attacks upended all of this and prompted the Bush administration's bold plan to remake the Middle East through a war in Iraq. By bringing liberal democracy to Iraq, Bush hoped that the country would be a springboard for the spread of democracy to neighboring authoritarian states, aiming to make the region not only more stable, prosperous, and amenable to Western values but also more friendly and accepting toward Israel. Yet the vast disruption that the war caused created an opportunity for Iran to advance its own opposing ambitions. Iran strove to turn the Middle East into a bastion of resistance to Western hegemony and bring an end to Israel's existence as a Jewish state. The resulting clash over the future regional order not only intensified the Iraq war, it reverberated in states across the region. With the Arab Spring and the outbreak of new conflicts, the US-Iranian showdown became entwined in a much more complex struggle, one which drew in other regional and foreign powers that all pursued differing agendas. Emerging from the chaos was an empowered Iran and a deeply unsettled broader region in which nominally pro-Western states began to recalibrate their relations with Washington even as they welcomed deeper roles for its key rivals: Russia and China.

In Wars of Ambition, Afshon Ostovar explores the evolution of the long and metastasizing conflict as it unfolded over a span of more than two decades. Not just a sweeping account of the dynamic interaction between America's Middle East policies and ambitious regional states on the receiving end, it also provides a powerful analysis of conflicting visions of the future that transcend regional politics. With Iran's rise and its revisionist campaign running in concert with those of Russia and China, the contest for the Middle East has become a microcosm of a larger geopolitical battle between those aiming to preserve the American-led global order and those seeking to overturn it. Ostovar's vivid history of this enormously complex conflict shows how the battle for the Middle East reflects the politics and dividing lines of an emergent multipolar world.

By: Afshon Ostovar (Associate Professor Associate Professor Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 241mm, Width: 165mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 667g
ISBN: 9780190940980
ISBN 10: 0190940980
Pages: 360
Publication Date: 15 August 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements Maps Chapter 1: Introduction Part I Chapter 2: When the Levee Breaks Chapter 3: Enter Iran Chapter 4: The Strategy of Freedom Chapter 5: The Path to Jerusalem Part II Chapter 6: Upheaval Chapter 7: Rebels and Tyrants Chapter 8: Firestorm Chapter 9: Nuclear Clouds Part III Chapter 10: America First Chapter 11: Peninsular Woes Chapter 12: The Quest for Tripoli Part IV Chapter 13: The Razor's Edge Chapter 14: An Undeclared War Chapter 15: Shifting Sands of a New Era Chapter 16: Epilogue Chapter 17: Conclusion

Afshon Ostovar is an Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of the award-winning Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards (Oxford, 2016), and a frequent contributor to Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and War on the Rocks, among other outlets.