Wilson Center Experts

David Ottaway

Senior Scholar

Middle East Program

Contact Information:

david.ottaway@wilsoncenter.org

T 202-691-4061 // F 202-691-4001

Expertise:

Middle East and North Africa

;

Egypt

;

Saudi Arabia

Affiliation:

Middle East Specialist and Former Washington Post Correspondent

Wilson Center Project(s):

“Revolution and Counterrevolution in the Arab World"

Term:

Dec 22, 2006

Dec 31, 2013

David B. Ottaway received a BA from Harvard, magna cum laude, in 1962 and a PhD from Columbia University in 1972. He worked 35 years for The Washington Post as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Africa and Southern Europe and later as a national security and investigative reporter in Washington before retiring in 2006. He has won numerous awards for his reporting at home and abroad and was twice nominated a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Ottaway was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 1979-80 and again in 2005-06 and is currently a Senior Scholar. His most recent book, published in November 2008, was The King’s Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America’s Tangled Relationship with Saudi Arabia. He is currently working on a book regarding the changes underway in the Arab world.

Major Publications

"The Arab Tomorrow," Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2010
"The King and US," Foreign Affairs, May/June 2009
King's Messenger: Prince Bandar Bin Sultan and America's Tangled Relationship with Saudi Arabia (Walker & Company)
Chained Together: Mandela, De Klerk and the Struggle to Remake South Africa (Random House)
Afro-Communism, coauthor with Marina Ottaway (Holmes & Meier Publications, 1986)
Algeria: the Politics of a Socialist Revolution, coauthor with Marina Ottaway (University of California Press, 1970)

Previous Terms at the Wilson Center:

Fellow, 2006-2007 "A Reporter's Postcards: Revisiting Six Global Hot Spots That Changed History's Course" I am returning to six countries where I lived or covered major stories, from Algeria at independence in 1962, to the Bosnian civil war in 1992-94. I witnessed Anwar Sadat's assassination in Egypt; the fall of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia; Nelson Mandela's walk to freedom; one million French people fleeing Algeria at independence, and the last Portuguese government ship departing Luanda at Angola's bloody independence.

Pages

Egypt Rising: President Morsi Addresses the UN

Sep 27, 2012

Egyptian President Morsi's debut on the world stage was anything but tentative. He began by challenging the world to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and addressed the ongoing civil war in Syria, calling it the "tragedy of the age." To gain perspective on the highly-anticipated speech from Egypt's first democratically elected leader, we spoke with former Washington Post Cairo Bureau Chief, David Ottaway, on the eve of his latest trip to Egypt.

Saudi Arabia’s Race Against Time

Aug 08, 2012

The Saudi official from the Ministry of Interior’s “ideological security” department was relaxed and confident. The government had uprooted scores of secret al-Qaeda cells, rounded up 5,700 of its followers, and deafened Saudi society to its siren call to jihad to overthrow the ruling al-Saud royal family. For the kingdom, the threat from Islamic terrorists had become manageable. So, what is the main security concern of the Saudi government today? The answer came as something of a surprise: the return of 150,000 Saudis who have been sent abroad to study, nearly one half of whom are now in the United States.

Morocco’s Islamists: In Power Without Power

Aug 02, 2012

Seven months after an Islamist became prime minister for the first time in Morocco’s history, it remains as nebulous here as in Tunisia and Egypt what the Islamists coming to power really portends. It is a conundrum that Islamist-wary Western capitals and independent analysts are all struggling to fathom.

Egyptian Democracy in Peril

Jun 21, 2012

The deep divide between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood was confirmed at the ballot box. Regional expert David Ottaway analyzes the power struggle in a Post-Mubarak Egypt, and what to expect in the coming months.

Tunisia’s Islamists Struggle to Rule

May 15, 2012

In stark contrast to Islamist victories elsewhere, Algeria’s election on May 10 produced a “crushing defeat” of two moderate Islamist parties, reports David Ottaway in a new analysis from Algiers. The outcome defied public predictions by Islamist politicians that they would win at least a plurality of seats—and potentially even enough to lead a new government. Two secular parties aligned with the former government instead increased their dominance in the National People’s Assembly, winning 288 seats – or 62 percent of the vote. The moderate Islamists have instead been marginalized politically—a position that may undermine prospects of cooperation with the new government.

"Algeria’s Islamists Crushed in First Arab Spring Elections" by David B. Ottaway

May 15, 2012

David B. Ottaway is a senior scholar at the Wilson Center who has recently returned from Algeria. The following piece is an overview of his observations of Algeria’s May 10 parliamentary elections.

Tunisia’s Islamists Struggle to Rule

Apr 05, 2012

David Ottaway, a senior scholar at the Wilson Center, has recently returned from Tunisia. This piece is an overview of his observations of current challenges faced by Tunisia’s leadership.

Exorcizing the Islamic Ghost Haunting North Africa

Nov 29, 2011

The victory of moderate Islamist parties in parliamentary elections, first in Tunisia and now in Morocco, confirms the most significant change wrought so far by the Arab revolts of this past year-- their emergence into the mainstream of Arab politics as leading players. Whether these elections will exorcize the “Islamic ghost” haunting North Africa, Europe, and the United States remains to be seen, but initial signs are mostly promising.

Springtime in Sudan

Nov 23, 2011

While Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has remained one step ahead of his impressive list of enemies, his time in power may soon be running out as his fellow Arab autocrats have discovered this year, Senior Scholar David Ottaway writes after his latest trip to Khartoum.

Podcast

Media Briefing: Obama Travels to Middle East

March 14, 2013 // 2:00pm — 2:30pm

Wilson Center experts answer media questions ahead of President Obama's first trip to Israel as President.

Podcast

Media Briefing: Secretary Kerry's First Interntational Trip

February 22, 2013 // 10:15am — 10:45am

Wilson Center experts and publications provide analysis on Secretary Kerry’s first international trip and U.S. foreign policy in a conference call with the media.

The Arab Revolution

February 25, 2013 // 4:00pm — 5:30pm

Arab academics and activists call the uprisings that started in early 2011 across the Arab world “revolutions.” Yet the “Arab Revolution” is both similar and dissimilar to the French, Russian, and other great revolutions that molded the history of the Western world, as described by Crane Brinton in his classic, The Anatomy of Revolution.

Webcast

Who Leads the Arab World?

November 30, 2012 // 12:00pm — 1:30pm

The Arab Spring is shifting the balance of power in the Arab World. Egypt's pre-eminence among Arab states is under challenge from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In this period of crisis and change, who will speak for, and lead, the Arab states?

Webcast

Becoming Enemies: U.S.-Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979-1988

October 15, 2012 // 4:00pm — 5:30pm

With its remarkable declassified documentation and oral testimony that bear directly on questions of U.S. policymaking with regard to the Iran-Iraq War, "Becoming Enemies" reveals much that was previously unknown about U.S. policy before, during, and after the war. The authors go beyond mere reportage to offer lessons regarding fundamental foreign policy challenges to the U.S. that transcend time and place.

Webcast

Saudi Arabia's Race Against Time

September 17, 2012 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm

Ottaway reports on the state of the Saudi kingdom based on his latest trip to Saudi Arabia.

The Islamists Are Coming: Who They Really Are

April 18, 2012 // 12:30pm — 2:00pm

As dictatorships fall, parties tied to the Arab world’s conservative religious tradition are getting stronger. An expert panel looks at what this means for the US, Israel, and the world—drawing on the new book, The Islamists Are Coming, by Center expert Robin Wright.

Webcast

Enemies or Allies in the New Middle East? Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia

December 19, 2011 // 12:00pm — 1:30pm

Three Middle East experts discussed the complicated and changing relationships between Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in the post-Arab Spring environment.

Webcast

Saudi Arabia in the Shadow of the Arab Revolt

September 16, 2011 // 9:00am — 10:00am

Senior Scholar David Ottaway will discuss the current state of Saudi Arabia's social and political unrest and provide an assessment of the Saudi government’s handling of the challenges threatening its stability and the transfer of power from its ailing gerontocracy.

Webcast

The Arab Spring: The Changing Landscape and Implications for Development

July 22, 2011 // 12:00pm — 1:15pm

David Ottaway, who covered the Middle East for The Washington Post, will provide an overview of recent activities in the region and their impact on the political and economic landscape. Margot Badran, a scholar on the Middle East, will share her insights on the events in Egypt and provide a perspective on Egypt’s path to development. They will also examine what implications this may have for the U.S. relationship with the region.

Pages

Violence Unsettles Tunisia’s Democratic Transition

Apr 11, 2013

Tunisia’s transition to democracy, widely regarded as the most successful to emerge from the five uprisings that shook the Arab world in 2011, is being seriously threatened by violence in the wake of a prominent leftist politician’s assassination in early February. The killing of Chokri Belaid has not only triggered a showdown within the ruling Islamic Ennahda Party between its moderate and fundamentalist wings but also deepened the hostility between secularists and Islamists within Tunisian society.

Mali: The Time for Dithering is Over

Jan 18, 2013

Since Tuareg nationalists and al-Qaeda seized control of northern Mali in February 2012, the world has been dithering about what to do. Neither the United States nor Algeria, two potentially key actors in the unfolding drama, has decided on its role yet. Mali’s neighbors, the African Union, and the UN Security Council have not wanted to take any risky action and have found ways to put off a military response in the slim hope of finding a political solution.

The Uncertain Fate of U.S.-Egyptian Relations

Nov 01, 2012

Ottaway, who has just visited Cairo, writes about the future U.S.-Egyptian relationship in light of the current political drift between the two countries and Egypt’s ongoing economic crisis. Egypt’s current attempt to secure a $4.8 billion IMF loan requiring potential subsidy cuts to gasoline and cooking oil serve to complicate matters as ensuing price rises could trigger riots and provoke Egyptians to blame the United States.

Saudi Arabia's Race Against Time (Summer 2012)

Aug 06, 2012

"The overwhelming impression from a two-week visit to the kingdom is that the House of Saud finds itself in a tight race against time to head off a social explosion, made more likely by the current Arab Awakening, that could undermine its legitimacy and stability."