Kenneth M. Pollack

Kenneth M. Pollack, a contributing editor to The National Interest, is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and the Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He is coauthor of the new report,“Unfinished Business: An American Strategy for Iraq Moving Forward.”

Essays

Security

Reading Machiavelli in Iraq

| 10.24.12

Machiavelli’s political analyses on civic life in Italy’s fifteenth-century city-states offer a good starting point for those interested in determining the best way forward for today’s Iraq.

Society

Something Is Rotten in the State of Iraq

| 08.24.11

Sunni vs. Shia. Kurd vs. Arab. Nationalist vs. Islamist. Iraq circa 2011 is looking an awful lot like Iraq circa 2004. The country is headed back to the anarchic depths from which it ever-so-briefly emerged.

Global Governance

Pariahs in Tehran

| 10.20.10

We shouldn't believe all we hear about the success of Obama's Iran strategy. The world needs to put a stranglehold on Tehran.

Security

The Battle for Baghdad

| 08.25.09

Baghdad is once again on the brink of civil war. The old Iraqi politics of backroom deals, corruption and violence are alive and well. An early exit may look like a bright idea now, but Iraq will be lost to us forever.

Security