NEW CPD Perspectives, “The Syrian Crisis of 1957: A Lesson for the 21st Century”

Kevin Brown authors a CPD Perspectives on the Syrian Crisis of 1957 looking at the historical implications on modern day U.S.-Syrian relations. Through analyzing Cold War relations, Brown draws a comparison between 1957 and the current conflict in Syria.

The Syrian Crisis of 1957, fueled by discontinuity between stated aims in the Middle East and actual policy execution, and sparked by the exposure on August 12, 1957 of a covert attempt at regime change clumsily fostered by the United States, led the nation to the brink of armed conflict with the Soviet Union in the fall of that year. But the region is much more unstable than even the post-World War II Middle East, and is further complicated by the complexity of a non-state threat in al Qaeda that Eisenhower did not have to consider. Is it best for the U.S. to deal with “the devil we know,” and attempt to keep al-Assad in power? Or is best to continue to adhere to a Middle East doctrine that would suggest a continued concern for the security of Israel in an Iranian influenced, Allawite run Syria?

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CPD Perspectives is a periodic publication from the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and highlights scholarship intended to stimulate critical thinking about the study and practice of public diplomacy.