Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East

Since the end of World War II, the United States has set out to oust governments in the Middle East on an average of once per decade—in places as diverse as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan (twice), Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The reasons for these interventions have also been extremely diverse, and the methods by which the United States pursued regime change have likewise been highly varied, ranging from diplomatic pressure alone to outright military invasion and occupation. What is common to all the operations, however, is that they failed to achieve their ultimate goals, produced a range of unintended and even catastrophic consequences, carried heavy financial and human costs, and in many cases left the countries in question worse off than they were before.

In this installment of People, Politics, and Prose with Ron Granieri, author Philip H. Gordon will discuss his new book, Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East. Gordon and Granieri will take a thorough and riveting look at the U.S. experience with regime change over the past seventy years, and provide an insider’s view on U.S. policymaking in the region at the highest levels. It is the story of repeated U.S. interventions in the region that always started out with high hopes and often the best of intentions, but never turned out well.

People, Politics, and Prose with Ron Granieri is a new FPRI event series that features in-depth conversations with authors of recent books on international affairs and national security. Moderated by FPRI’s Ronald J. Granieri, each session will build on the book’s contents to discuss the author’s influences and motivations, relating everything to current events to elicit broader understanding of the geographical, political, and historical context of our contemporary world.

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