In this Westview Press Spotlight, Mark L. Haas explores the major political consequences of the Arab Spring protests in North Africa and the Middle East as well as how and why US leaders responded to these developments. A detailed examination of the threats and opportunities to US interests created by the uprisings are prominent in the analysis of the events. Students will learn about the individual protests and aftermath of the Arab Spring as well as the various policies the United States might adopt to best advance US security in the new international environment.

The United States and the Arab Spring is an extracted chapter from the 2013 Updated Edition of The Middle East and the United States, Fifth Edition, edited by regional experts David W. Lesch and Mark L. Haas. In the full-length edition of the text, scholars and diplomats from the Middle East, Europe, and North America provide an objective, cross-cultural assessment of U.S. policy toward the Middle East and Middle Eastern political history from the First World War through the present.