An American Ambassador in the Middle East
To navigate the complexities of any environment, you need a good guidebook. When it comes to a region like the Middle East, however, the socio-political landscape is arguably more convoluted than the geographic terrain, so it’s critical to get solid information from someone who knows the territory. That’s what makes Edward P. Djerejian’s new book, “Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador’s Journey Through the Middle East,” such a valuable contribution to the literature on international relations.
Djerejian, founding director of Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, wrote the book to encapsulate his experiences as an American diplomat who served under eight United States presidents and administrations, from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton. William Martin, the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Senior Fellow for Religion and Public Policy at the Baker Institute and professor emeritus of sociology, collaborated with Djerejian on the book.
The book begins with an open letter to the next president of the United States. Djerejian, who served as U.S. ambassador to both Syria and Israel as well as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, calls for immediate involvement in efforts to stabilize the region. Furthermore, he urges the incoming administration to engage its adversaries. Finally, he backs a fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy in the region from conflict management to conflict resolution.
“We should not be so naïve in Washington to think that we can promote democracy in the Middle East without Islamist groups coming into power.” — Edward P. Djerejian
Discussing the book at a Baker Institute event, Djerejian said that the overarching goal of U.S. foreign policy in the Arab and Muslim world should be to strengthen moderates and marginalize extremists. The best way to achieve that, he said, is to avoid imposing solutions from the outside and to adopt policies that promote solutions that stem mainly from the people in the region. But we also must be aware of unintended consequences.
“We should not be so naïve in Washington,” Djerejian said, “to think that we can promote democracy in the Middle East without Islamist groups coming into power.”
While supporting moves to spread democracy in the Arab and Muslim world, Djerejian cautioned against a “fixation on elections.” He relayed an anecdote from his time as ambassador in Damascus. Then-Syrian President Hafez al-Assad had just been re-elected with 99.44 percent of the vote. Djerejian said he congratulated Assad on his overwhelming victory and then asked about the .56 percent that had voted against him. “I have all their names,” Assad assured Djerejian. The point, Djerejian said, is that “elections alone do not make democracy.”
“Danger and Opportunity” includes chapters on Djerejian’s time in Beirut, Damascus and Jerusalem, as well as on the geopolitics of energy and on his roles as senior adviser to the Iraq Study Group and chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World. It is aimed at audiences ranging from historians to policy analysts to casual readers.