ABSTRACT
This book’s conclusion explores new dynamics and emerging security paradigms regarding the future trends and prospects for change in a region overwhelmed by war, conflict, sectarian tensions, political turmoil, violence, and struggles for freedom. After reviewing some of the book’s key themes and central arguments as laid out in the preceding chapters, we turn our attention to US foreign policy toward the Middle East over the coming years. Given that the shale oil and gas revolution and fracking technologies have dramatically reduced direct US dependence on the region’s oil, a larger question involves the extent to which US foreign policymakers and the American public are prepared to tolerate further military interventions in the region.
