David Ignatius

Foreign-affairs columnist and associate editor at The Washington Post, covering international affairs, intelligence, and national security; he is also a novelist and a member of the Aspen Strategy Group.

Security Plans Fail Without Legitimate Political Authority

Salam Fayyad, Kim Ghattas, Amaney Jamal and Herro Mustafa argue that the Middle East’s security crises cannot be resolved through military pressure or technocratic arrangements alone. In Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq, they say, armed groups can be constrained only by institutions with the authority, capacity and political legitimacy to govern; regional integration, meanwhile, remains tied to Palestinian statehood rather than efforts to bypass it.

The Aspen InstituteJul 17, 202611 min read