| POLI 367 |
Fall 2007 |
| The Middle East and the International System |
Robert C. Dash |
COURSE SYLLABUS
Course summary and objectives
This course examines the role of the greater Middle East and North
Africa region (the Arab states and Turkey, Iran, and Israel) in the
international system. It also looks at the development of state
power in the modern Middle East. It focuses on regime
development, regional and inter-Arab relations, the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, relations between the region and the West, and important
transnational forces at work in the region. The course primarily covers
the period from the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire to the present.
Among the topics covered in the course are: colonialism and its
legacies, regional security, conflict and the role of outside powers,
nationalism and pan-Arabism, the region’s political economy,
political regimes and their opposition, authoritarianism and democracy,
and political Islam. Students are introduced to analytical
frameworks that are used to examine the international and domestic
politics of the Middle East. Students are expected to master
those frameworks and to develop an informed understanding of the
region’s politics, domestic and international. Students
will acquire the analytical skills necessary for challenging resilient
stereotypes about the region.
Course materials
The following books are available for purchase in the WU
bookstore. Other materials will be placed on electronic reserve
in the Hatfield library or handed out in class.
T.G. Fraser, The Arab-Israeli Conflict 2nd edition (Palgrave MacMillan, 2004)
Marvin Gettleman and Stuart Schaar, The Middle East and Islamic World Reader: An Historical Reader for the Twenty-First Century (Grove Press, 2003)—
optional purchase
Fred Halliday, The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
Barry M. Lando. Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush (Other Press, 2007)
Roger Owen, State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East 3rd edition (Routledge, 2004)
Course format, student obligations and student evaluation
The course is organized around class discussion of the assigned reading
materials. Lectures are infrequent and are primarily aimed to
providing context and background to the readings. Students are
expected to be fully prepared each day to participate in class
discussions by contributing relevant information, developing
controversial issues, and asking probing questions. All assigned
readings are to be completed prior to the class session in which they
will be discussed. Assignments will be discussed at the
appropriate time in the course. Final grades in the course will
be assigned on the following bases
• Twenty percent of the final course grade is
based on the instructor's assessment of student preparation for and
participation in class discussions. Informed and thoughtful
participation in class discussion is expected of all students.
For this to occur, regular class attendance is absolutely necessary;
class attendance will be tracked and this portion of the final course
grade will be lowered for excessive absences (beyond three).
• Fifty percent of the final course grade will
be based on the writing of two policy papers, one on Iraq and the
second on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Each assignment will
count twenty-five percent of the final course grade.
• Thirty percent of the final course grade will
be assigned to a library-based paper on one significant theme regarding
ME politics, e.g., gender and politics in one of the countries.
Please note that I accept work that is turned in past due dates, but
late work is graded down by a letter grade for every twenty-four hour
period that I receive it beyond the due date. Also, I do not
normally accept work by email; it is your responsibility to provide me
with a hard copy. Finally, it is your responsibility to
understand and conform to the university’s policy on plagiarism,
which the CLA Catalog defines as:
Cheating
is any form of intellectual dishonesty or misrepresentation of
one’s knowledge. Plagiarism, a form of cheating, consists of
representing someone else’s work as one’s own. All members
of the Willamette University community are expected to be aware of the
serious breach of principles involved in plagiarism. Ignorance of what
constitutes plagiarism shall not be considered a valid defense. If
students are uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism for a
particular assignment, they should consult the instructor for
clarification. (See pages 319-321)
Students requesting academic accommodations because of a disability are
to provide a letter of accommodation from Disability Services within
the first two weeks of class.
Office Hours and Telephone
My office is Smullin 317, my campus telephone number is 370-6262, and my office times are Monday and Wednesday 11:30 to 12:30.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Introduction to Middle Eastern Politics
Wed Aug 29 Introduction to course
Fri Aug 31 Concepts and Theories Read: Halliday, pp ix-17; and Owen, pp. 1-4, 48-53
Wed Sept 5 Read Halliday, pp. 21-40
Fri Sept 7 Read Halliday, pp. 41-72
State Formation and Nationalism
Mon Sept 10 Emergence of the Modern ME Read Halliday, pp. 75-96
Wed Sept 12 Read Owen, pp. 5-22
Fri Sept 14 Single Party Regimes Read Owen, pp. 23-38
Mon Sept 17 Family Rule Read Owen, pp. 39-48, 53-55
Wed Sept 19 & Fri Sept 21 Arab Nationalism Read Halliday, pp. 193-228; and
Owen, pp. 56-72
Mon Sept 24 The Cold War Read Halliday, pp. 97-129; & Owen, pp. 90-101
Wed Sept 26 Non-Arab States Read Owen, pp. 73-89 & 101-109
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
Fri Sept 28 Origins of Conflict Read Fraser, pp. 1-48
Mon Oct 1 Post-Partition Read Fraser, pp. 49-75
Wed Oct 3 1967 & 1973 Wars Read Fraser, pp. 76-106
Fri Oct 5 Search for Settlement Read Fraser, pp. 107-44; and Hussein Agha and Robert
Malley, “The Road from Mecca,” The New York Review of Books, May 10, 2007,
pp. 43-46
Mon Oct 8 Read Fraser, pp. 145-80; and Craig S. Smith and Greg Myre, “Hamas May
Find It Needs Its Enemy,” New York Times, June 17, 2007
Iraq and its Deceits
Wed Oct 10 The Rise of Saddam Read Lando, pp. 1-24
Fri Oct 12 Read Lando pp. 25-47
Mon Oct 15 Iran-Iraq War Read Lando, pp. 48-81
Wed Oct 17 The Kurds Read Lando, pp. 82-98; and Christopher de Bellaigue, “The
Uncontainable Kurds,” The New York Review of Books March 1, 2007, pp. 34-36
Mon Oct 22 Invasion of Kuwait Read Lando, pp. 99-129
Wed Oct 24 The Second Gulf War Read Lando, pp. 130-58
Fri Oct 26 Uprisings Read Lando, pp. 159-84
Mon Oct 29 U.N. Sanctions Read Lando, pp. 185-214
Wed Oct 31 Invasion of Iraq Read Lando, pp. 215-38; Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, “A Failure in Generalship,” Armed Forces Journal (May 2007), retrieved August 14, 2007 from <http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2007/05/2635198>
Fri Nov 2 Occupation Read Lando, pp. 239-67
Mon Nov 5 Read: Mark Danner, “Iraq: The War of the Imagination,” The New York Review of Books, December 21, 2006, pp. 81-96; Peter Galbraith, “Iraq: The Way to Go,” The New York Review of Books, August 16, 2007, pp. 4-8; and Nir Rosen, “The Flight from Iraq,” New York Times Magazine, May 13, 2007
Themes and Issues
Wed Nov 7 & Fri Nov 9 The Military Read Halliday, pp. 167-92; and Owen, pp. 178-99
Mon Nov 12 The Question of Democracy Read Owen, pp. 131-53; Negar Azimi, “Hard Realities of Soft Power,” New York Times Magazine, June 24, 2007, pp. 50-55; and Max Rodenbeck, “Lebanon’s Agony,” The New York Review of Books, June 28, 2007, pp. 10-14
Wed Nov 14 The Politics of Religion Read Owen, pp. 154-77
Fri Nov 16 & Mon Nov 19 Non-State Actors Read Owen, pp. 200-215;
Halliday, pp. 229-60; and Negar Azimi, “Bloggers Against
Torture,” The Nation, February 19, 2007, pp. 11-16
Wed Nov 21 & Mon Nov 26 Political Economy Read Owen, pp 113-30; and Halliday, pp. 261-99
Post-9/11
Wed Nov 28 Read Owen, pp. 217-40
Fri Nov 30 Read Halliday, pp. 303-324
Mon Dec 3-Fri Dec 7 TBA