ABSTRACT
Statecraft Grand strategy is the organisation of huge resources and forces in pursuit of truly ambitious ends. It is precisely what the West needs to tackle the problems centred in the Middle East today. The region is as unstable as at any time since 1973, and yet it is more vital to the security of Europe and the wider West than at any time since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Worse, the threat that instability poses to the region and beyond is growing. The dangers posed by Al Qaeda and ISIS are symptomatic of a new kind of struggle in which their defeat will involve far more than their military eclipse. It will require a Western-led strategy – political, diplomatic, informational, military and domestic – to re-establish strong, legitimate governance structures across the region, able and willing to meet the needs of burgeoning but deeply divided peoples. Despite their chequered history in the region, if Western powers do not engage, the strategic agenda not just of the region but of much of the world will be set by others. An effi cient and effective strategy that combines values with interests will require in the region war-fi ghting; economic, social and political development; the growing of reformed governance structures; counter-insurgency; effective policing; and a counter-terrorism element involving political, social and educational measures, in the West and elsewhere, to undermine and eventually cut off support for terror groups in money, personnel and ideology, as well as to foster robust resilience and consequence management in partnership with civil society.
