Middle East Forum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American "think tank" founded in 1990 by historian and columnist Daniel Pipes, who also serves as its director.[1] The MEF describes its aims as "[to] define and promote American interests in the Middle East" through research, publications, and educational outreach. MEF became an independent 501(c)3 organization in 1994. It publishes a journal entitled Middle East Quarterly.
The MEF defines "U.S. interests" as "fighting radical Islam, whether terroristic or lawful; working for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; improving the management of U.S. democracy efforts; reducing energy dependence on the Middle East; more robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia; and countering the Iranian threat."[2] Based on a belief that the United States has vital interests in the region of the Middle East, the organization advocates strong ties with Israel, Turkey, and other democracies as they emerge; works for human rights throughout the region; seeks a stable supply and a low price of oil; and promotes the peaceful settlement of regional and international disputes.[3]
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[edit] Mission statement
The mission of the Middle East Forum is defined in "About the Middle East Forum" on the organization's website as follows:
The Middle East Forum, a think tank, seeks to define and promote American interests in the Middle East. It defines U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam, whether terroristic or lawful; working for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; improving the management of U.S. democracy efforts; reducing energy dependence on the Middle East; more robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia; and countering the Iranian threat. The Forum also works to improve Middle East studies in North America.
MEF sees the region, with its profusion of dictatorships, radical ideologies, existential conflicts, border disagreements, political violence, and weapons of mass destruction as a major source of problems for the United States. Accordingly, it urges active measures to protect Americans and their allies.
Toward this end, the Forum seeks to help shape the intellectual climate in which U.S. foreign policy is made by addressing key issues in a timely and accessible way for a sophisticated public.[2][3]
[edit] Publications and Projects
[edit] Middle East Quarterly
The Middle East Quarterly (MEQ) is a quarterly journal devoted to to Middle Eastern affairs founded in 1994 by Daniel Pipes whose current editor is Michael Rubin, a Yale-educated historian who is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a former political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, and a former staff advisor on Iran and Iraq in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.[4]
According to the description of this journal provided on its website hosted by Middle East Forum, "[p]olicy-makers, opinion-makers, academics, and journalists" consult MEQ "for in-depth analysis of the rapidly-changing landscape of the world's most volatile region." It also claims to publish "groundbreaking studies, exclusive interviews, insightful commentary, and hard-hitting reviews that tackle the entire range of contemporary concerns – from politics to economics to culture, across a region that stretches from Morocco to Afghanistan."[5]
[edit] Campus Watch
In 2002, the Middle East Forum initiated the Campus Watch program and its website identifying five problems in the teaching of Middle Eastern studies at American universities: "analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students."[6] Winfield Myers is the current director of Campus Watch (2007).[7]
Initially, Campus Watch encouraged students to submit reports regarding teachers, books, and curricula, which led some professors to accuse Campus Watch of "McCarthyesque" intimidation; in protest, more than 100 other academics asked to be listed too.[8] Subsequently, Campus Watch removed the list from its website.[9][10]
[edit] Islamist Watch
On April 21, 2006, the Middle East Forum launched Islamist Watch, a project whose goals are to "combat[s] the ideas and institutions of nonviolent, radical Islam in the United States and other Western countries. It exposes the far-reaching goals of Islamists, works to reduce their power, and seeks to strengthen moderate Muslims." Islamist Watch claims to educate the government, media, religious institutions, the academy, and the business world about lawful Islamism. It focuses on the political, educational, cultural, and legal activities of Islamists in the United States and, to a lesser degree, in other historically non-Muslim countries, especially Western Europe, Canada, and Australia.[11]
According to the organization's webpage hosted on the Middle East Forum website, Islamist Watch does not focus on counterterrorism and only indirectly concerns Islamism in traditional Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, and its three main "activities" include "research, advocacy, and activism."[11]
In December 2006 Paul Belien became director of Islamist Watch.[12]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Middle East Forum" listed in "Search Results" and "Resource Library" on the website of the Foreign Policy Association; cf. organization website for Middle East Forum, one of "Daniel Pipes's websites" (incl. its "Mission" statement), all accessed February 24, 2007.
- ^ a b "About the Middle East Forum", accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ a b Daniel Pipes, "The MEF Mission", danielpipes.org (personal organization website of Daniel Pipes, n.d., accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ Current issue of Middle East Quarterly 14.2 (Spring 2007), accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ Middle East Quarterly. Publication website hosted by its sponsoring organization, Middle East Forum, accessed February 19, 2007.
- ^ Qtd. from "Mission Statement," in "About Campus Watch", Campus Watch (campus-watch.org), n.d., accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ "Who's Who at Campus Watch", Middle East Forum (meforum.org), n.d., accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ Tanya Schevitz, "Professors Want Own Names Put on Mideast Blacklist", San Francisco Chronicle September 28, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ Tanya Schevitz, "'Dossiers' Dropped from Web Blacklist", San Francisco Chronicle October 3, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ Hussam Ayloush, "Column a Slur on Muslim Community", Orange County Register December 1, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ a b "Islamist Watch" (information page), Middle East Forum, n.d., accessed February 17, 2007.
- ^ "Paul Belien Appointed Director of Islamist Watch", press release, Middle East Forum December 11, 2006, accessed February 17, 2007.
[edit] Further reading
- Goldberg, Michelle. "Mau-mauing the Middle East". Salon.com September 30, 2002. Accessed February 16, 2007.
- Rubin, Barry, and Judith Colp. Hating America: A History. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. ISBN 0-19-516773-2.
[edit] External links
- "Daniel Pipes' Websites" (incl. Middle East Forum).
- Middle East Forum Organization website; features "a 7-minute video about the Middle East Forum, highlighting the organization, its personnel, and work."
- "About the Middle East Forum" at organization website.
- Middle East Quarterly. Publication website hosted by its sponsoring organization Middle East Forum. Contains full text versions of all but current issue of the print edition of Middle East Quarterly. Accessed February 19, 2007.
- Middle East Intelligence Bulletin––Jointly published by the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon (founder and president, Ziad K. Abdelnour) and the Middle East Forum.
[edit] See also
- Bradley Foundation - A financial sponsor of the Middle East Forum
- Campus Watch - An initiative of the Middle East Forum
- Council on Foreign Relations - Sponsors of another Middle East Forum - a project of the CFR Middle East Program (its "Roundtable")
- Daniel Pipes – Founder of the Middle East Forum
- Middle East Quarterly - A publication of the Middle East Forum
