Whether your work involves improving education methods in public schools or working to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons, it is likely that the RAND Corporation has produced a thorough study of the challenges your work involves and can offer possible solutions to these challenges.  Born out of the Second World War, the RAND Corporation has advised private companies, organizations, and the United States government on a broad spectrum of issues, from public health policy to countering the threat of international terrorism.

 

 

The RAND Corporation derives its name from the phrase “research and development.” RAND was founded in 1948, when a small group of experts separated from the Douglas Aircraft Corporation.  Influenced by the lessons of World War Two, this small group of experts recognized that continued world peace was not guaranteed and that supporters of peace had to work assiduously to promote it.  According to its website, the RAND Corporation is a “nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world.”  Since its inception, RAND has stressed the need for cooperation between industries, government agencies, and universities, aiming to maximize coordination between knowledgeable people to tackle all aspects of a given issue.  In the end, RAND produces what it claims to be thorough and objective analysis on a wide array of issues.  At the same time, many outside observers question RAND’s relationship with the Pentagon and the American Department of Defense.  Speculation about these connections likely stems from the fact that, when it began, RAND focused the vast majority of its resources on defense and national security research.  In fact, RAND researchers are credited with providing the foundations for America’s space program. 

 

 

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization.  In 2004, RAND reported $387 million in net assets and $227 million in revenues.  Many influential personalities sit on RAND’s Board of Trustees, including Paul H. O’Neill, the former United States Secretary of the Treasury, and Harold Brown, a counselor with the influential Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

 

RAND is divided into several research divisions that cover a wide range of topics, from health and education to national security, defense, and issues of international concern.  In addition, RAND operates a publications division as well as a searchable public-use database service.

 

The RAND Corporation operates the Center for Middle East Public Policy (CMEPP), which focuses on “political, social, economic, and technological developments” in the Middle East and aims “to make society safer, smarter, and more prosperous.”  The CMEPP lists four principle goals it aims to achieve:  supporting political and social reform; fostering mutual understanding between the peoples of the Middle East and the United States; encouraging the peaceful resolution of conflict in the region; and developing programs to help the youth of the Middle East. 

 

The director of the CMEPP is David Aaron, who previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter and who also served as a presidential emissary to different parts of the world.  L. Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and Ray Mabus, the former American Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, serve on the CMEPP advisory board. 

 

The CMEPP lists five studies it is either currently working or will begin work on in the near future.  The most prominent of these studies is entitled “Helping a Palestinian State Succeed.”  The study seeks to answer the question “what is required of a viable Palestinian state?” In two reports published about the study, “Building a Successful Palestinian State” and “The Arc:  A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State,” the CMEPP offers recommendations for the creation of viable and successful state structure.  According to their research, a Palestinian state will be more likely to succeed if it has a high level of territorial integrity, open borders, and adequate security both within the state and for its neighbors.

 

Other studies at the CMEPP include “Supporting Moderate Muslim Networks,” a study that aims to provide help to moderate Muslim leaders in fighting their “war of ideas” with extremists, and “Strengthening Middle East and Islamic Studies in America,” which aims to examine the current state of academic programs focusing on the Middle East and Islam and to provide both the government and educational institutions with suggestions for improvements in these programs.  The Center is also working on a study called “The Transition to Democracy in the Middle East,” which examines the dynamics and challenges of encouraging reform in Middle Eastern countries of high national interest to the United States, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and a study called “A Survival Kit for Child Victims of the War in Afghanistan and Iraq,” which works to develop educational materials for children traumatized by the wars in their countries.

 

 

RAND’s researchers and analysts often comment on issues of significance with regard to the Middle East.  Recently, RAND analysts have offered their opinions on the United States’s relationship with Iran and its involvement in Iraq. 

 

With regard to Iran, James Dobbins of RAND suggested that the United States needs to take a less hostile attitude toward the country.  He also suggested that the US could achieve more of its goals in the region by working with Iran rather than against it, especially with regard to the future of Iraq.

 

In terms of Iraq, RAND analysts remain optimistic about the situation in the country, though they recognize the threat of a civil war if the Iraqi population does not gain increased confidence in the Iraqi government and if insurgent activities in Iraq do not lessen in number and intensity.  At the same time, RAND analysts say that the United States also needs to have a specific set of criteria established that will eventually lead to a U.S. troop withdrawal from the country.