The Aspen Institute

Blind Spot: America’s Response to Radicalism in the Middle East is part of the Aspen Strategy Group’s Policy Books series. This edition is a collection of papers commissioned for the 2015 Aspen Strategy Group Summer Workshop. In response to the evolving challenges extremist groups present in the Middle East, more than 70 leaders in academia, business, government, and journalism convened in Aspen, Colorado, in August 2015, to analyze the implications of radicalism in the Middle East. The book begins by exploring the roots and appeal of extremism in the Arab world, discusses the future of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and outlines strategies to counter ISIS and the threat of Islamic extremism in general. The essays that make up this book capture a range of opinions on the roots, drivers, and sustainability of radical groups in the Middle East.