George Mason University School of Policy, Government & International Affairs (SPGIA) GOVT731: The Politics and Societies of the Middle East Spring 2015 Tuesdays 7:20 pm 10:00 pm Hanover Hall L002 Taught by Dr. Rola el-husseini Office Hours: Tuesdays 5:30-7:15 or by appointment Office: Robinson 218A Email: rhusseini@gc.cuny.edu PLEASE USE EMAIL TO CONTACT YOUR INSTRUCTOR COURSE DESCRIPTION This is a survey course putting the Middle East in comparative perspective, using social scientific categories to analyze the region. Students will learn the most important factors influencing the political course of the Middle East today, especially what makes the region seemingly impervious to worldwide trends. Topics will include: regime types, their basis and causes; influential political trends such as Arab nationalism, Ba athism, and political Islam; the role of kinship, religion, and tribe in opposition and regime politics; the regional oil economy and economic crisis; democratic liberalization; and the growth of civil society. COURSE OBJECTIVES Introduce students to the region, Challenge preconceived ideas about MENA, Think critically about the region and question media reports, Learn how to look for balanced information by identifying markers of balance (e.g., tone and language), Learn how to analyze and synthesize information, Improve research and writing skills. COURSE MATERIALS Deborah Gerner, and Jillian Schwedler, eds. Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2008). All other assigned readings are available in a special Dropbox folder shared with the class.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS This course will be conducted as a seminar. Students are expected to attend, to participate actively in the classroom and to make a class presentation. There will be 2 take-home midterm exams and a research paper assignment. Failure to fulfill any of the class expectations or graded components will result in a course grade of F. CLASS PRESENTATIONS As a seminar, this course will approach its subject material primarily through discussion. This means that each student is responsible for the upkeep and the success of the class. Therefore, presence, preparation, and participation are essential. Each student will be asked to present the materials (or part thereof) assigned for a specific week and to lead the discussion during that week s seminar. The class presentations will be graded and the grade counts toward class participation. The presentations are the starting point for your research paper. The topic of the presentation will be the same or similar to that of your final paper. Presentations can take the form of a power point presentation where the discussant raises the main issues he/she found relevant in the readings. Do not discuss the articles one by one. Find the overarching theme and the main issues raised in the readings, and then use them as a point of departure for your presentation. Synthesize the material: see if you can find ideas that complement or contradict each other. As the presentation is the basis for your paper, you should bring in extra materials about the topic and introduce them to the class. This way you can start the research for your midterms and final paper. ASSIGNMENTS The final paper is a 5,000 word research paper based on your class presentation or on a topic agreed upon in advance with the instructor. The paper can only exceed the number of allotted words by 10%. The two midterms are a preparation for the final paper. Midterm 1: In the first midterm you will be asked to start preliminary research on your paper and formulate the outline. In the outline, you should include the following: The question/issue you are analyzing, your argument and working hypothesis in addition to a preliminary bibliography. Midterm 2: In the second midterm, you will also be expected to submit an annotated bibliography of 3-5 pages. You are asked to write a couple of lines on each work you plan to use, summarizing the main argument and possibly highlighting omissions or criticizing flaws in the argument. You are also required to write a summary of what other authors say about the topic (a Literature review). Your midterms will be marked and emailed back to you with comments and suggestions. Please read the comments and suggestions carefully when writing the paper.
The final paper will draw on the work done for the midterm. The midterm and the final have to be emailed to the instructor by 5:00 PM on the due date. Late assignments will lose ONE GRADE letter. To avoid plagiarism, you are additionally required to submit the final paper to turnitin.com. Further information regarding the use of the website will be sent to you by email toward the end of the semester. GRADE DISTRIBUTION Class presentations: 10% Midterm 1: 25% Midterm 2: 25% Research Paper: 40% ASSIGNMENTS DUE DATES Class presentations: weekly Midterm 1: February 27, 2015 Midterm 2: March 27, 2015 Research paper: May 8, 2015 ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING Students are expected to participate in class. They are expected to complete a research paper. All elements below must be completed for a satisfactory fulfillment to successfully pass this course. Student performance will be assessed as follows: A = Excellent; Outstanding performance: Mastery of the assignment communicated very effectively. With respect to the level, scope and depth of material to which the student was expected to be acquainted there is little room for improvement. B = Satisfactory; Good performance: Manifests a solid understanding of the assignment communicated in a comprehensible manner. All major points or tasks are correctly performed and fundamental comprehension of the material is demonstrated. No major errors or omissions. The level of comprehension displayed is clearly acceptable. C = Marginal; Somewhat deficient: Although elements of the assignment are correctly presented, some significant elements are missing, poorly interpreted or involved errors in fact or interpretation; presentation may be weak or devote attention to matters that are marginal or unrelated to the subject. There is a discernable rough balance of correct and incorrect (or missing) material.
D/U = F/U = Unsatisfactory; Serious deficiencies: Major errors dominate the presentation or major points are missing. The presentation reveals a serious lack of understanding of the material and the quality is poor. Failure; completely wrong: No part of the response is correct or it is simply missing either from the lack of effort or lack of comprehension of the subject. AMERICAN DISABILITY ACT The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring accommodation, please advise the instructor. PLAGIARISM As commonly defined, plagiarism consists of passing off as one s own ideas, the words, writings, music, graphs/charts, etc that were created by another. In accordance with this definition, you are committing plagiarism if you copy the work of another person and turn it in as your own, even if you have the permission of that person. It does not matter from where the material is borrowed a book, article, material off the web, another student s paper all constitute plagiarism unless the source of the work is fully identified and credited. Plagiarism is cheating and a violation of academic and personal integrity and will not be tolerated. Plagiarism carries extremely serious consequences. To avoid plagiarism it is necessary when using a phrase, a distinctive idea, concept or sentence from another source to reference that source in your text, a footnote, or endnote. Every student in this course must comply with this code in all work submitted for a grade, and will be held accountable accordingly for both individual and team assignments. Anyone who is not prepared to be accountable to this standard should immediately withdraw from this course.
WEEK I- INTRODUCTION WHERE/WHAT IS THE MIDDLE EAST? WHO ARE THE ARABS? ARE ALL ARABS MUSLIMS? No readings required WEEK II- ORIENTALISM Lockman, Zachary. Orientalism and empire in Contending Visions of the Middle East, the History and Politics of Orientalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, (Chapter 3) Said, Edward. Introduction and Chapter 1, in Orientalism. Mamdani, Mahmood. Introduction and Chapter 1, in Good Muslim, Bad Muslim Questions & Issues to Consider: How has the Middle East (or the East ) been studied historically? What influenced the study of the Middle East from a European perspective? Or, later, from an American perspective? How do power relations affect the production of knowledge, or notions of objectivity? What are the most salient categories in pop culture for understanding the Middle East? Where do they come from and how are they perpetuated? Can we produce objective knowledge about the other? Most importantly, what is the relationship between knowledge and power? WEEK III- STATE-BUILDING AND THE END OF EMPIRE Gerner and Schwedler, Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. (Chapter 3, pp. 50-84 and chapter 4). Anderson, Lisa. The State in the Middle East and North Africa. Comparative Politics 20, no. 1 (October) (1987): 1-18. Ayubi, Nazih N. Overstating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East. New York: I.B. Tauris, 1995. (Chapter 3). Owen, Roger. State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East. Routledge, 2004 (Chapter 1) Hinnebusch, Raymond. Toward a Historical Sociology of State Formation in the Middle East, Middle East Critique, 19:3, 2010
WEEK IV- VARIETIES OF STATES Alan Richards, and John Waterbury. A Political Economy of the Middle East: State, Class and Economic Development. San Francisco: Westview Press, 1990. (Chap. 11 and 13) Herb, Michael. All In the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies. Albany: State University of New York, 1999. (Chap. 1) Ayubi, Nazih N. Overstating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East. New York: I.B. Tauris, 1995. (Chap 6 and 7) WEEK V- ARAB NATIONALISM, UNITY & POLITICAL PARTIES Kienle, Eberhard. Arab Unity Schemes Revisited: Interest, Identity, and Policy in Syria and Egypt. International Journal of Middle East Studies 27 (1995): 53-71. Dawisha, Adeed I. "The Transnational Party in Regional Politics: The Arab Ba th Party." Asian Affairs, no. February (1974). Ayubi, Nazih N. Overstating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East. New York: I.B. Tauris, 1995. (Chapter 4) Reiser, Stweart. Pan-Arabism Revisited. Middle East Journal Vol. 37, No. 2 (Spring, 1983), pp. 218-233 Fouad Ajami, The end of Pan Arabism, Foreign Affairs, 57: 355, 1978 Phillips, Christopher. The Arabism Debate and the Arab Uprisings. Mediterranean Politics 19:1, 2014. WEEK VI- THE BIRTH OF THE PALESTINE ISSUE Gerner & Schwedler, Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. (Chapter 6) Kimmerling, Baruch& Migdal, J The Palestinian People: A History, Cambridge, MA: Harvard U Press, 2003. (Chapters 7-11) Ron Pundak From Oslo to Taba: What Went Wrong? Survival, Volume 43, Number 3, 2001 Leila Farsakh Independence, Cantons or Bantustans: Whither the Palestinian State? Middle East Journal, 59:2, 2005. Leila Farsakh, The One-State Solution and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Palestinian Challenges and Prospects. The Middle East Journal 65:1, 2011.
WEEK VII- REGIONAL ECONOMY: OIL AND THE RENTIER STATE Gerner and Schwedler, Understanding the Contemporary Middle East, (Chapters 7 & 8) Michael Ross, Does Oil Hinder Democracy? World Politics 53 (2001): 325-61. (Read for the main point, not details) Michael Herb, No Representation without Taxation? Comparative Politics 37:3, 2005. Losman, Donald. The Rentier State and National Oil Companies: An Economic And Political Perspective. Middle East Journal, 64:3, 2010. Okruhlik, Gwen. Rentier Wealth, Unruly Law and the Rise of Opposition: the political economy of oil states Comparative Politics 31:3,1999. Yousef, Tariq. Development, Growth and Policy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa since 1950, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 18, no. 3 (2004): 91-116. WEEK VIII- AUTHORITARIANISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST: IS DEMOCRATIC REFORM POSSIBLE? Bellin, E. The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Exceptionalism in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Politics, 36:2, 2004. Bellin, Eva. Reconsidering the robustness of authoritarianism in the Middle East: Lessons from the Arab Spring Comparative Politics, 2012 A Stepan, JJ Linz Democratization Theory and the Arab Spring Journal of Democracy, 2013 Gause, FG. Why Middle East Studies missed the Arab spring: The myth of authoritarian stability. Foreign Affairs, 2011 Anderson, Lisa. Demystifying the Arab Spring: Parsing the Differences Between Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Foreign Affairs, 2011 Rashid Khalidi, Preliminary Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011, Jadaliyya http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/970/preliminary-historical-observations-on-thearab-re Questions & Issues to Consider: Is authoritarian rule unique to the Middle East? What produces authoritarian rule? What sustains it? How does authoritarian rule affect stateopposition dynamics? Is there a relationship between levels/kinds of authoritarianism and extremist opposition? What are the bases of conflict in the Middle East?
WEEK IX- ISLAMISM IN THE ARAB WORLD AND IRAN Gerner & Schwedler, Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. (Chapter 12). Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam, Harvard U. Press, 2002 (Chapters 5, 6 and 13) Denoeux, Guilain. The Forgotten Swamp: Navigating Political Islam. Middle East Policy 9: 2, 2002. ICG group, Iran: the struggle for the revolution s soul http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iran-gulf/iran/005-iranthe-struggle-for-the-revolutions-soul.aspx Khoury, Philip. Islamic Revivalism and the crises of the Secular State in the Arab World, in Ibrahim Ibrahim, ed., Arab Resources. Mamdani, Mahmood. Inventing Political Violence, Global Agenda, January 2005. WEEK X- WOMEN S ISSUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST Gerner & Schwedler, Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. (Chapter 11) Ross, Michael. Oil, Islam, and Women, American Political Science Review, Vol 102, No. 1, February 2008. El-Husseini, Rola. Women, Work and Political Participation in Contemporary Lebanese Shi a Writings, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. 28, No.2. Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender, New Haven, CT: Yale U Press, 1992 Introduction, Chapters 7 and 8 Abu-Lughod, Lila. Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? American Anthropologist, 104:3, 2002 Mikdashi, Mikdashi. How Not to Study Gender in the Middle East, Jadaliyya, March 2012 http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4775/how-not-to-study-gender-in-the-middle-east Questions & Issues to Consider: What is the relationship between societal development and the role of the family? What is the relationship between the role of the family in the society and gender roles? What are the bases of political action in the Middle East (e.g., communal, sectarian, religious, class, political, economic, cultural)? In studying the Middle East, why does the question of the veil become an all-too-important issue when other issues are clearly more significant? Should we take liberal discourse on feminism at face value (e.g., we invaded Afghanistan partly to liberate their women )?
Week XI- CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EAST Langohr, Vickie Too Much Civil Society, Too Little Politics: Egypt and Liberalizing Arab Regimes. Comparative Politics 36:2, 2004. Wiktorowicz, Quintan. Civil Society as Social Control: State Power in Jordan. Comparative Politics 34:1, 2000. Sarah Ben Nefissa et al (eds.) NGOs and Governance in the Arab World, American U. in Cairo Press, 2005 (Introduction, Chap. 4 and 6) Moore, Pete. & Salloukh, Bassel. Struggles Under Authoritarianism: Regimes, States and Professional Associations in the Arab World International Journal of Middle East Studies, 39:1, 2007. Carapico, Sheila. Foreign Aid for Promoting Democracy in the Arab World Middle East Journal, 56:3, 2002. Carapico, Sheila. What Does It Mean, Promoting Democratization? International Journal of Middle East Studies 41:1, 2009. Montagu, Caroline Civil Society and the Voluntary Sector in Saudi Arabia. Middle East Journal, 64:1, 2010. WEEK XII- PUBLIC SPHERE AND THE MEDIA Sakr, Naomi. Satellite Realms: Transnational Television, Globalization and the Middle East, I. B. Tauris, 2001 (Chapters 1 and 6) Wheeler, Deborah. The Internet in the Middle East, SUNY Press, 2006 (Chapters 1 and 2). Bruce Etling et al., Mapping the Arabic blogosphere: politics and dissent online, New Media and Society, 12:8, 2010. McGarty et. al. New Technologies, New Identities, and the Growth of Mass Opposition in the Arab Spring. Political Psychology 35:6 Malcolm Gladwell, Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be tweeted The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentpage= all WEEK XIII- COERCIVE DEMOCRATIZATION AND REGIME CHANGE: IRAQ Khalidi, Rashid. Resurrecting Empire, Beacon Press, 2004 (chapter 5)
Whitehead, Laurence. Losing the Force? The Dark Side of Democratization after Iraq Democratization, 16:2. Bellin, Eva. The Iraqi Intervention and Democracy in Comparative Historical Perspective Political Science Quarterly 119:4. Andrew J. Enterline and J. Michael Greig, The History of Imposed Democracy and the Future of Iraq and Afghanistan Foreign Policy Analysis 4:4, 2008. John Mearsheimer, Imperial By Design, National Interest, January/February 2011 http://nationalinterest.org/article/imperial-by-design-4576?page=show Ned Parker, The Iraq we left Behind Foreign Affairs, March/April 2012 WEEK XIV- THE UNITED STATES AND THE MIDDLE-EAST Gerner & Schwedler, Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. (Chap. 14) Kylie Baxter & Shahram Akbarzadeh US Foreign Policy in the Middle East: The Roots of Anti-Americanism, Routledge, 2008 (Chap. 7 and 8) Halabi, Yakub. US foreign policy in the Middle East: from crises to change, Ashgate, 2009 (Chap. 6, 7, and conclusion) Hatem, Mervat. Discourses on the War on Terrorism in the U.S. and its Views on the Arab, Muslim, and Gendered Other, in Arab Studies Journal, Fall 2003/Spring 2004, (Vol. XI No. 2 / Vol. XII No. 1) Walzer, Michael. After 9/11: 5 Questions about Terrorism, in Michael Walzer, Arguing about War. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004. Questions & Issues to Consider: Is there an industry of terrorism (who benefits from advancing a preoccupation with terrorism )? To what extent is the term politicized? What is the difference between terrorism and resistance? Is it all a matter of perspective? Who has the power to define what kind of violence is legitimate and what kind of violence is not? Why has terrorism become the most important international issue in a world wrought by more costly calamities?