The Pragmatic Superpower is a latest work produced by two of Washington’s renowned foreign policy experts ─ Ray Takeyh and Steven Simon. The book spread over 10 chapters and deals with reframing the legacy of the US involvement in the Middle East from the end of the World War II till the disintegration of the United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. The book sheds light on the making of the contemporary Middle East from a new perspective. The authors provide undaunted re-examination of how the US was able to spread its influence in this region during the Cold War era.
The Middle East was engulfed with crisis throughout the Cold War. The Soviet encroachment in the Gulf’s fragile governments and the growing radical tendencies posed grave threats to the stability in the Middle East. This book adopted a realistic approach in explaining how the US managed to achieve its strategic goals in the region without much effort and cost unlike it did in other regions that it was engaged in during the Cold War.
