The APSA Congressional Fellowship is quite a new program in the Middle East. Thanks to a recent partnership between the American Political Science Association and the Fulbright Commission researchers and journalists from different parts of the world have the chance to participate in the distinguished program. Given the fact that such programs are not well known outside the academic field, the Fulbright Commission in Cairo took the initiative to invite more people from different fields. As a journalist working for a leading newspaper in the Arab World, Al-Ahram, the experience of a 10-month focus on the U.S. Congress has thrilled me because the basic knowledge of the U.S. legislative body in the Arab world has been either inaccurate or insufficient.

Generally speaking, Congress is perceived as a complementary or integral part of the U.S. government. Due to decades of animosity in the region, the American political system has not been open for reciprocal exchanges or experience with people from Arab nations. I focused on how to address the misperception on both sides. On one hand, the Arab world always deals with Congress as a reservoir for the Israeli lobby and the Israeli interests and does not acknowledge a multifaceted relationship that goes beyond the Arab-Israeli conflict. On the other hand, a slender and unbalanced level of knowledge about Middle East politics among U.S. congressional members and staff is a thorny and problematic issue that needs to be addressed from close-range.

Being a journalist and having an M.A. in American foreign policy and Islam encouraged me to apply for an affiliation with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. There I worked closely with distinguished former politicians and scholars and published a working paper: “Arab Think Tanks: An Engine for Reform or a Mirage?”

The Brookings Institution atmosphere was conducive to approaching different aspects of the American government. I attended several seminars on different issues related to Congress and the executive branch and participated in discussions on the role of Congress in policymaking. The seminars and meetings provided me a wide and different approach on the work of the U.S. government before I began my work assignment in Congress. My priorities for the assignment were:

Following an adventurous interview trip on Capitol Hill, I selected the office of Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) for the following reasons: I was allowed to handle Middle East issues, and the work atmosphere was clearly friendly to a foreign Fellow.

The assignment offered an opportunity to draw close to the Middle East currents in Congress. I have attended myriad hearings on the region's current issues and have met with people from different shades, for example, the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). I also participated in the launching of trade negotiations in Congress between the U.S. and a number of Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Morocco, and Kuwait, and attended the inauguration of the U.S-Bahrain Caucus.

In a rare juncture, I attended the Summer Seminar Series of the AIPAC on Capitol Hill in which the invitees spoke candidly about Israel, the White House, and Congress. At that convention I encountered the five largest lobby interests in Washington, D.C. Indeed, I contributed in a number of conferences related to the Middle East: the Egyptian-American Relations conference at Georgetown University, the Arab Reform Conference at the Carnegie Endowment for Democracy, and the Greater Middle East conference at the Global South Center of American University. The experience allowed me some insights and comments for my member of Congress on specific issues like the American military engagement in Iraq, the varied initiatives for reform in the Arab World, and American public diplomacy efforts in the Arab and Islamic worlds.

In the process, I benefited from the genuine support of the office's staff. Being a journalist from the Middle East meant that the more I learned about U.S. foreign policy the better the office might draw on my background. Therefore, the office did not hesitate to offer me seemingly endless chances to take part in Washington's think tank events, diplomatic receptions, and congressional seminars.

In a concurrent endeavor, I approached a handful of American intellectuals, politicians, and scholars for inclusive interviews and articles for Al-Ahram daily in Arabic and Al-Ahram Weekly (the English edition). Frances Fukuyama, the “End of History” theorist; Joseph Nye, the “Soft Power” theorist; and Noah Feldman, the former adviser for the new Iraqi constitution all obliged. I was able to arrange a series of interviews for the Saban Center's publication with scholars and experts from the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment, American Enterprise Institute, CATO Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In the process, I commented on U.S. and Middle East current affairs for LBC, a Lebanese satellite television channel.

First, the fellowship holds a huge and tangible return for both U.S. and foreign Fellows, as it is difficult to have an inside view of congressional functions and performance without having such a personal experience. This Fellow came to the U.S. with a blurred vision of the role of Congress in policymaking, and how Congress and the executive branch interact with each other. Abridging the congressional role in American foreign policy is, also, a common mistake in certain parts of the world. In this program, a Fellow can reach the well-founded conviction that Congress is the central or pivotal axis of the American government.

Second, the American political arena is shaped around the congressional agenda on a daily basis through which the electorate in the 50 states can easily pursue representatives' performance. The correlation between the executive branch and the legislative branch is determined through an assortment of channels. Both branches are keen to inject new thoughts and to stimulate the other cohort to energize the policymaking process. In the distance between both branches are miscellaneous groups engaging in the lobbying game in a way that seldom happens in most parts of the world. Still, the very first lesson echoes Montesquieu's phrase in The Spirit of the Laws: “When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty.”

Third, understanding the groundwork of the legislative processes, from a close range, reveals an intricate endeavor as long as Congress reflects the interests of 50 states that amount to 50 separate countries, taking into consideration the economic size of these states in comparison to independent states all over the world. Disagreements and fierce debates over federal budget allocations for local communities and public services are unambiguous signs that unrelenting bargaining tradeoffs might be an inseparable feature of legislative agendas. In an undivided government, the majority party enjoys undefeatable motions. At the same time, the friction between the majority and the minority has escalated to touch every aspect of the legislative process. The bargaining space depends on the majority's authentic interest in making a deal, and on political maneuvering on specific themes.

Fourth, regarding U.S. relationships with foreign nations, the U.S. Congress has played a major role alongside the State Department and other federal agencies in articulating a national standpoint toward the outer world. The interdependent world has left no room for an isolationist approach in American foreign relations. From the vibrant International Relations and Foreign Relations Committees in both the House and the Senate, American legislators draw up relatively inclusive visions for American national interests abroad. The everlasting contacts between foreign diplomats and civil society organizations, on the one hand, and congressional aides, on the other hand, have increased the awareness of world societies and might help in enhancing communicative skills, concerning the foreign societies, within Congress. Some representatives and senators have formulated congressional international agendas according to the explicit interests of their constituencies. The percentage of foreignborn voters in the constituency can be a decisive factor in adopting specific positions, and opinions. Also, the representative or senator's own character and beliefs could be another determining element for taking certain postures.