Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-273) and index.

Framing American Foreign Policy -- American Foreign Policy: Ideology versus Realpolitik -- Explications: (A) The Role of Culture and History -- (B) The Role of Politics and Security -- The Division of the Volume -- The Intellectual Context of American Foreign Policy -- The Confrontationalist Interpretation of Islam: The "New Enemy" -- Confrontationalist Policy Recommendations -- The Accommodationist Interpretation of Islam: The New "Challenge" -- Accommodationist Policy Recommendations -- Islam and Muslims in the Mind of America -- A Brief Historical Sketch -- The Impact of the Islamic Revolution in Iran -- The Fear of Terrorism and Its Effects on U.S. Policy -- The Role of the Media -- The Role of Israel and Its Friends -- Congressional Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy -- The Carter, Reagan, and Bush Administrations' Approach to Islamists -- Carter's Collision with Political Islam: The Iranian Revolution -- Clash of Cultures or Clash of National Interests? -- Reagan's Encounter with Islamic Resurgence: Rhetoric versus Action -- Bush and the Algerian Crisis -- The Meridian House Address: The Foundation of a New Policy on Islam -- Assessing the Meridian House Address -- The Clinton Administration: Co-opting Political Islam -- Islam and the West: Coexistence and Harmony? -- Islam and Democracy -- Culture as a Factor in U.S. Perceptions of Islamists -- Analysis of the Clinton Administration's Rhetoric -- The Islamic Republic of Iran -- Culture or Security? -- The Evolution of American Policy toward Iran -- From Containment to Relentless Pursuit -- Washington's War on Revolutionary Islam -- The Iranian Threat: Myth and Reality -- Policy Recommendations -- Algeria -- Clinton's Initial Stand on Algeria: "Concerned Watchfulness" -- Assessing the Clinton Administration's Initial Approach -- The U.S.-French Clash over Algeria -- A New Policy: "Positive Conditionality" -- Institutionalization of Violence and Retreat in U.S. Policy -- Policy Recommendations -- Egypt -- The Internal Struggle for Power -- The Clinton Administration's Initial Flirtation with Islamists -- Reversing American Policy: Full Support for Mubarak -- The Beginning of the End of al-Famaa and Fihad? -- Assessing U.S. Policy toward Egypt and Its Islamists -- Policy Recommendations -- Turkey -- U.S.-Turkish Relations after the End of the Cold War -- The 1991 Gulf War: Deepening of U.S.-Turkish Relations -- Thinking the Unthinkable: Refah in Power and U.S. Reaction -- The Campaign Against Islamists -- Refah's Record and the American Role -- The Military's Final Assault and Removal of Erbakan -- The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? -- Policy Recommendations -- Findings of This Study: Rhetoric -- Findings of This Study: Policies -- The Iranian Complex -- What Is to Be Done?.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the origins of American policy on political Islam, chronicling the policy debates on Islamism in the United States over the course of time.