Ideas matter -- Consolidation and learning by doing: US foreign policy in the Middle East, 1945-73 -- The oil embargo crisis in 1973-4 -- The Iranian revolution and US foreign policy in the Middle East between 1979 and 2001 -- September 11 and the War on Terror : the rise of neo-conservativism -- Back to the future : the second Iraq War and the United States democratization policy in the Middle East.