PrintScott Lasensky
Senior Research Associate, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention
Scott Lasensky focuses on issues relating to the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy toward the region. He has lectured and written extensively on the Arab-Israeli conflict and America's role in the Middle East. He also directs USIP's Iraq and Its Neighbors project.
Author most recently of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East, Lasensky has published widely on issues related to U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East. He has served as adjunct assistant professor of government at Georgetown University, visiting assistant professor of international relations at Mount Holyoke College and as a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Lasensky is a frequent commentator on the BBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR, and other major media outlets, and has been published in Middle East Journal, Political Science Quarterly, Jerusalem Post, A-Sharq Al-Awsat, Beirut Daily Star, International Herald Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
Lasensky is a graduate of UCLA and earned his Ph.D. in international relations from Brandeis University.
Multimedia
- NPR interviews Lasensky on the Obama administration's choice of envoys to the Middle East. (March 2009)
- NPR interviews Lasensky on the Bush administration's move toward conducting talks with Iran and Syria, and what these talks mean for Iraq and its neighbors. (March 2007)
- NPR interviews Lasensky on why Iraq's neighboring countries have a stake in Iraq's conflict. (October 2006)
- Lasensky discusses the Middle East ceasfire on KCBS. (August 2006, MP3)
- Lasensky discusses next steps in the Middle East on KCBS. (July 2006, MP3)
Publications:
- Dealing With Damascus: Seeking a Greater Return on U.S.-Syria Relations, co-author (Council on Foreign Relations, 2008).
- Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East co-author (USIP Press, 2008).
- International Intervention in Gaza: Options and Obstacles
USIPeace Briefing (June 2007) - "Make Sharm el-Sheikh the Turning Point for Region," Beirut Daily Star and Post Global (May 2007).
- Jordan and Iraq: Between Cooperation and Crisis
Special Report (December 2006). - Dollars and Diplomacy: Foreign Aid and the Palestinian Question
USIPeace Briefing (August 2006). - Syria and Political Change II
USIPeace Briefing (March 2006). - "Jordan's Role in Iraq is Modest, but Positive," The Daily Star (December 19, 2005).
- Syria and Political Change
USIPeace Briefing (December 2005). - "Before this Mideast moment slips away," Haaretz (June 17, 2005).
- "Chequebook Diplomacy: The US, the Oslo Process and the Role of Foreign Aid," Aid, Diplomacy and Facts on Ground, edited by Micheal Keating et. al. (Chatham House, 2005).
- "Paying for Peace: The Oslo Process and the Limits of U.S. Foreign Aid," Middle East Journal (Spring, 2005).
- "An Opening at Sharm el-Sheikh," with Phebe Marr. The Daily Star (November 20, 2004).
- "How to Help Palestinian Refugees Today," (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2003).
Other:
- Pathways to Peace: An Institute conference on Israeli-Palestinian relations struck a rare note: optimism
PeaceWatch, April/May 2005
Resources & Tools
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An online toolkit for peacemakers, negotiators, and other conflict management practitioners. |
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Since 2004, USIP's "Iraq and its Neighbors" initiative has sponsored track II dialogues and ongoing research on relations between Iraq and its six immediate neighbors. As part of this work, the Institute—in partnership with the Stimson Center—sponsored a bipartisan, independent, and unofficial Study Mission to Syria and Saudi Arabia in mid-January 2009. The delegation met with a wide variety of leading political figures, businesspeople, NGOs and foreign policy experts in both countries, including President Bashar Assad of Syria and Prince Turki al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia. The top concern for both Riyadh and Damascus remains blowback from Iraq: the ascendance of ethnic and sectarian identity and the spread of Islamic militancy. The need to contain this threat is the dominant force that shapes their relations with Iraq. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia have a vital interest in ensuring that Iraq's emerging political order is inclusive of Sunni Arab Iraqis, who have not yet been fully incorporated into Iraqi institutions. This working paper represents the initial findings of the Study Mission. |
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As Washington struggles to revive the Arab-Israeli peace process, Kurtzer and Lasensky offer the definitive guidebook on how to broker peace in the Middle East.
Countries: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis, Conflict Management and Resolution, Negotiation and Diplomacy
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The recent Hamas takeover of Gaza has led to calls for greater international intervention. With prominent figures calling for an international force in Gaza and along the Gaza-Egypt border to halt arms trafficking, what are the demands, options, and obstacles for international intervention scenarios? |
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The worsening crisis in Arab-Israeli relations has brought into sharp focus the question of how foreign aid can be used as an instrument of peacemaking. The fighting in Gaza and Lebanon is creating pressure for major new international relief and reconstruction assistance. But can foreign aid help the parties return to a political process? |
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A special presentation by Institute Middle East specialist Scott Lasensky before the Capitol Hill-based study group "Security for a New Century 108th Congress." |
Events
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February 6, 2009
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March 13, 2008
Countries: Israel, Palestinian Territories
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis, Negotiation and Diplomacy
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December 13, 2006
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November 27, 2006
Countries: Israel, Syria, United States
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis, Political Systems and International Relations, Security and Strategy, Terrorism and Political Extremism
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October 4, 2006
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September 8, 2005
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June 7, 2005
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January 27, 2005
Countries: Israel, Palestinian Territories
| Issue Areas: Mediation and Facilitation, Negotiation and Diplomacy
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