Introduction

This introduction attempts to trace the efforts made by the United States to secure domestic political conditions in the Middle East, through the strategy of democracy promotion. The fundamental premise of this book is that the US's promotion of democracy in the Middle East, under the Clinton and G. W. Bush administrations, constituted a strategic pursuit of hegemony in the Gramscian sense. It also represents the first time a Gramscian theoretical framework has been adapted and applied to examine the US strategy of democracy promotion in the Middle East. The book details about an analytical framework adapted from the Gramscian theoretical approach. It examines US democracy promotion in the aftermath of the Second World War, amidst America's ascension onto the world stage. It also examines the formulation and implementation of the strategy of democracy promotion in the Middle East on a regional level. Finally, an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book is presented.