- Docente: Marcella Emiliani
- Credits: 10
- SSD: SPS/13
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Forli
- Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in International relations and diplomatic affairs (cod. 8048)
Learning outcomes
This course aims to provide basic analytical tools for the comprehension of the complex historical and political Middle Easter context . Processes of state-building and nation-building in the area will be traced back since their inception at the time of the Ottoman Tanzimat reform project until the present day. Attention will be devoted to monarchical and military regimes and conflicts that heavily influenced the regional political development, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Lebanese civil war, the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Desert Storm operation, the Afghan war of 2001 and the war waged against Iraq since the 2003.
Special emphasis will be given to the process of genesis and development of the complex phenomenology of radical Islamism, to encompass al Qaeda global Islamic terrorism
Course contents
Week 1
Defining the Middle East: analytical framework. Patterns of change in the Ottoman Empire in the XVIII and XIX Centuries.
1a- Identity dilemma and forms of community ( Islam and other religious identities; different meanings of asabiyyah)
1b- Notion of ‘ Ottoman Decadence' and Tanzimat reforms
1c- Ottomanism and Panislamism
Week 2
The First World War and the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire
2a- The Young Turks' Coup . 1908-1918 Reforms. Turkism. The Origins of Arab Nationalism and the related historiographical Debate.
2b- Nation-States in the Middle East. British Mandates in Palestine, Jordan and Iraq and Frech Mandates in Syria and Lebanon. Egypt and the Maghreb.
2c- Zionism and Jewish immigrant waves to Palestine ( aliot)
Week 3- The Palestinian Question and the Making of Israel.
3a- The origins of Palestinian nationalism. The Great Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. Palestinian politics under the Mandate.
3b- Israeli unilateral Independence, 1948 War and its aftermath in the Arab World. Relationship between the Palestinian Diaspora and local Arab elites. UN Resolution 194. UNRWA ( United Nations Relief and Work Agency)
Week 4- Military Regimes in the Middle East
4a- Kamal Ataturk's Turkey
4b- The Arab State's self- referentiality: Nasser's Egypt and Houari Boumedienne's Algeria.
4c- The primacy of ‘Politics' on ‘Religion': Nasser and the Muslim Brethren. Sayyid Qutb's thought as a tenet of contemporary radical Islamism.
Week 5- Conflicts: the Suez Crisis, the Six Day War and their consequences on Arab States and Israel
5a- Nasserism, Panarabism, the Nonaligned Movement, 1956 Suez Crisis and the Cold War in the Middle East.
5b–The Six Day War, Israel conquests , the Allon Plan and the colonization of the Occupied Territories.
5c – Palestinian politics in Diaspora. The P.L.O., Arafat's presidency, Black September in Jordan, Palestinian terrorism in the 1970s and the 1980s. The P.L.O. in Beirut.
Week 6- 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Oil Shock
6a- The Yom Kippur War and its consequences in Israel and in the Arab countries. Anwar el-Sadat's Egypt and Syria under Hafez el-Asad.
6b- Gulf Oilmonarchies and Rentier States.
6c- The Lebanese Civil War: the role of Syria and Israel. 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath. 1989 Ta'if Accords.
Week 7- 1979 Iranian Revolution and the ‘exportation' of the Islamic Revolution.
7a- Iran under the Pahlavi and the causes for the Revolution. Re-reading ‘Karbala's paradigm': Shi'a Islam in its revolutionary version. Ali al-Shariati. Velayet e-Faqih and the Iranian Republic of Iran.
7b- The ‘exportation' of the Islamic Revolution. Hezbollah in Lebanon. 1979 Assault upon Mecca's Great Mosque. Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (1979-1989) and the role played by the Superpowers, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
7c- Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the Iran –Iraq War (1980-88).
Week 8- The end of the Cold War and its aftermath in the Middle East
8a- The First Intifada and the Algeri Convenant in 1988. The Algerian FIS and the Civil War (1992-1998). The Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait. Desert Storm Operation . 1991 Madrid Conference.
8b- Oslo Accords and their red-lines. The failure of the peace process.
8c- The Second Intifada and Hamas islamonationalism . Israeli unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas electoral victory (2006).
Week 9- Islamism and Global Terrorism
9a- 9/11 2001 and its aftermath in the Middle East. ‘al-Qaeda' and the global Islamic terrorism.
9b- The Afghan War ( 2001) and the War on Iraq ( 2003)
9c- Democratization in the Middle East
Readings/Bibliography
Set-texts:
We recommend students to study the following books:
- James L. Gelvin, Storia del Medio Oriente moderno, Torino, Eiunaudi, 2009
- M. Emiliani, La terra di chi?, Bologna, Il Ponte, 2008
- G. Kepel, Jihad ascesa e declino, Roma, Carocci, 2001
Students who are not attending class lectures MUST study all the following books:
- J.L. Gelvin, Storia del Medio Oriente moderno, Torino, Eiunaudi, 2009
- M. Emiliani, La terra di chi?, Bologna, Il Ponte, 2008
- G. Kepel, Jihad ascesa e declino, Roma, Carocci, 2001
- B. Morris, Vittime. Storia del conflitto arabo-sionista 1881-2001, Milano, Rizzoli, 2001
- M. Emiliani (acd), La vittoria di Hamas. Prospettive, sviluppi. paure, Bologna, Il Ponte, 2006
- M. Emiliani (acd), Hamas alla prova del governo. La Palestina sull'orlo della guerra civile, Bologna, Il Ponte, 2007
- M. Emiliani, M. Ranuzzi de BIanchi, E. Atzori, Nel nome di Omar. Rivoluzione, clero e potere in Iran, Bologna, Odoya, 2008
Teaching methods
Lectures.
Assessment methods
One final oral exam
Teaching tools
Maps, slides and videos will be used during lectures
Find here a list of links to some Middle Eastern journals' on-line editions listed by country, useful to understand the recent events:
Algeria
North Africa Journal http://www.north-africa.com/ ( English and French version, analysis, reports ans comments on Maghreb politics, economy and finance)
Algeria Interface http://www.algeria-interface.com/
Algerie Press Service http://www.aps.dz/fr/welcome.asp (English and French versions )
Saudi Arabia
Arab News http://arabnews.com/
Saudi Gazette http://www.okaz.com.sa/sgazette/
Bahrain
Gulf Daily News www.gulf-daily-news.com
Bahrain Tribune www.bahraintribune.com
Bahrain Post www.bahrainpost.com
Egypt
Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/
Business Today http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/
Cairo Times http://www.cairotimes.com/ (weekly, useful for in-depth reports on political and cultural themes)
Egypt Today http://www.egypttoday.com/ (good to learn a bit more about aspects of Egyptian political, cultural and social life)
Middle East Times http://metimes.com/ (weekly, covering politics, finance, culture and religion)
Middle East New Agency (MENA) http://www.mena.org.eg/
UAE
Gulf News http://www.gulf-news.com/
The Gulf Today http://www.godubai.com/gulftoday/main.asp
Khaleej Times http://www.khaleejtimes.co.ae/
Jordan
Jordan Times http://www.jordantimes.com ( it calls itself an independent daily on Arab politics)
The Star http://star.arabia.com/ (weekly, it covers politics, economy and culture )
Iran
Iran Daily http://www.iran-daily.com/
The Iranian http://www.iranian.com/ ( progressive, interesting because it is especially concerned with cultural and social topics , with particular attention for gender issues).
Iranic Republic News Agency (IRNA) http://www.irna.ir/
Teheran Globe http://www.tehranglobe.com/
Teheran Times http://www.tehrantimes.com/
Iraq
Baghdad Bullettin http://www.baghdadbulletin.com/
Iraq Daily http://www.iraqdaily.com/
Israel
Ariga http://www.ariga.com/ ( Pacifist Left, very critical of establishment politics)
Debkafile http://www.debka.com/ (it covers political analysis, intelligence, security and terrorism )
Globes http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/ ( interesting for in-depth economic and financial analysis, it covers business and technology )
Ha Aretz http://www.haaretzdaily.com
Israel Insider http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=HomePage ( Nationalist Right)
Arutz Sheva- Israel National News http://www.israelnationalnews.com/ ( religious nationalist Right)
Jerusalem Newswire http://www.jnewswire.com/ (rightist )
Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/ (right-wing)
Jerusalem Report http://www.jrep.com/ (on-line magazine covering Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, right-wing )
Maariv http://www.maarivenglish.com/ ( high-circulation newspaper)
Our Jerusalem http://ourjerusalem.com/index.html (Nationalist Right )
Kuwait
Arab Times http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/index.asp
Kuwait Times http://www.kuwaittimes.net/
Lebanon
The Daily Star (Lebanon) www.dailystar.com.lb/
East West Record http://www.eastwestrecord.com/ ( Independent on-line weekly, specialized in politics and economy)
Monday Morning http://www.mmorning.com/
Lybia
Al- Fajr al-Jadid http://www.alfajraljadeedeng.com/ ( beweekly , in English, , pure propaganda)
Morocco ( As for Algeria and Tunisia, you have a wider choice of publications in French)
Morocco Today http://www.morocco-today.com/
Oman
Oman Observer http://omanobserver.com/
Times of Oman http://www.timesofoman.com/
Oman News Agency (ONA) http://www.omannews.com/
Palestine
Jerusalem Times http://www.jerusalem-times.net/ (Independent Palestinian Weekly)
Palestine Times http://www.ptimes.org/ ( monthly, published in London)
Other on-line resources, to collect information about the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the latest developments on the ground:
Palestine Chronicle http://www.palestinechronicle.com/
Electronic Intifada http://electronicintifada.net/
Bitter Lemons http://bitterlemons.com/
Arabic Media Internet Network http://amin.org/eng
Ali Abunima http://abunima.org/
Palestine Media Watch http://pmwatch.org/
Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre (JMCC) http://jmcc.org/
Qatar
Al- Jazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage ( al-Jazeera satellite channel's web-site)
Gulf Times http://www.gulf-times.com/
The Peninsula http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/index00.asp
Syria
Syria Times http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/
Syria News Agency http://www.sana.org/
Tunisia
Tunisia Daily http://www.tunisiadaily.com/
Yemen
Yemen Observer http://www.yobserver.com/
Yemen Times http://yementimes.com/
Office hours
See the website of Marcella Emiliani