In Bridging the Gap scholar and military officer Cindy R. Jebb asks why the United States, with its considerable diplomatic, economic, and military resources vested in the Middle East, has not been able to successfully implement plans to quell unrest in the region. To find an answer, Jebb specifically focuses on the factors that drive United States' foreign policy decisions in Egypt and Syria in a Cold War and post-Cold War context. The epilogue brings forward the post-Cold War findings to a post 9/11 world, providing insights on the changing legitimacy formulas for both states.Using comparative politics literature to answer the international relations question of why states behave as they do, this searching study builds an important foundation for further research in other critical areas of current scholarly interest, including democratization, consensus-building, multilateral institutions, and ethnic studies. Bridging the Gap will be indispensable to scholars in the international, comparative, and security fields, and Jebb's insights will be of particular value to Middle East regional experts and policy makers.