The US policy towards the Islamic world since the beginning of the 1970s has experienced the challenge of responding to three major crises in the region: the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the consequent accumulation of petrodollars in the hands of a few traditional, Arab monarchies; the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran, coupled with the debt crisis of the 1980s; and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Each one of these crises generated a new set of ideas to address the roots of the crisis and construct a new reality that would best serve US interests. In that sense each set became embedded within formal US institutions, influencing the way American policymakers comprehended foreign policy, assessed problems, and formulated strategies toward the region. Such embedded ideas, in turn, regulated American relations with the Middle East—a political region where power and interests shape outcomes by virtue of the ideas that channel them.
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