New Book Highlights How Soft Power Is Shaping the Future of the Middle East
CHICAGO — A new book argues that American “soft power” investment and economic development rather than military force helped stabilize Egypt after the Arab Spring and could have prevented much of today’s regional conflict.
“A Daring Enterprise: A US-Egyptian Partnership and the Case for Soft Power” explores how the US Congress created the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund in 2011, injecting $300 million into Egypt’s private sector. The fund helped steer the country back from economic turmoil after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, when tourism and investment froze and the currency lost more than 80 percent of its value.
“Right now, US engagement in the Middle East is once again defined by military and ‘hard power,’ and America’s role in the region is defined by conflict,” said Cornelius Queen, senior vice president at the fund and one of the book’s three authors. “Investment is much more effective than military intervention and results in long-term stability.”
Queen co‑wrote the book with journalist Mark Warren and James Harmon, former chairman of the US Export‑Import Bank. They argue that strategic investment creates durable partnerships and local jobs, reducing the appeal of extremism. “If you can give someone a job who doesn’t have a job, I think that helps lessen the likelihood of political unrest,” Queen said.
The authors say the enterprise fund model first used after the fall of the Berlin Wall could be replicated across the Middle East. “What we’ve demonstrated is that you can do development, invest in other countries, and it’s not charity,” Queen said. “You can create returns for the taxpayer.”
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