77690 - HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Learning outcomes

The course examines the historical development of the International Relations of the Middle East from the early XIX century to current events. At the end of the course, students will be able to articulate informed and coherent arguments about the main aspects of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern political, social and cultural history by referring also to the relevant scholarly literature. Eventually, students will acquire the necessary tools to analyse critically the interaction between the agency of local and regional forces and international and global dynamics affecting the region.

Course contents

The course will consist of 30 frontal lectures for a total of 60 hours of class instruction. Lectures will introduce students to the core contents of the discipline while elaborating on how the additional study materials related to weekly key questions.

Lectures will cover the following topic:

Week 1- 19-20-23/02/24 -Introduction to the Study of the Modern and Contemporary Middle East: working definitions, historical and cultural background.

Week 2- 26-27/02-01/03/24 - Defensive Modernization (XIX century): Ottoman Empire, Qajar's Persia and Egypt Compared.

Week 3- 4-5-8/03/24- WWI and the Making of the Modern Middle East.

Week 4- 11-12-15/03/24- The Colonial Middle East- State and Nation-building in the Interwar Period

Week 5- 19-22/03 -The Origins of the Palestinian Question

Week 6- 25-26/03 AND 5/04- the Middle East in the Bipolar World: the Golden Age of Panarabism and the radicalisation of Arab politics.

Week 7- 8-9-12/04/24 Israel and the Palestinians from 1948 to the 70s

Week 8- 15-16-19/04/24 The Middle East in the Seventies: regional patterns of war and peace

Week 9- 22-23-26/04/24 Middle East in the Seventies (2): the resurgence of political Islam

Week 10- 29-30/04-3/05/24The Middle East and the end of the Cold War- The Oslo Accords and their failure

Week 11- 6-7-10/5/24- Make up classes and revision

 SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR BAES STUDENTS:

BAES students are reminded that:

-the course of History and International Relations of the Middle East (the denomination of this course within the BAES study plan) is offered ONLY at the Forlì campus;

-the BAES study plan awards 6 ECTS for the course of History and International Relations of the Middle East. This means that BAES students are not REQUIRED (although surely welcome if they wish) TO ATTEND THE WHOLE COURSE. ATTENDANCE WILL BE COMPULSORY FROM WEEK 6 (starting 25th of March )  to WEEK 10 ONLY (30 hours of in class instruction). BAES students will also have to pass a final written test on week 8 (covering the topics of the first part of the attended classes) and the final oral exam (covering the second part of the attended classes).

Further information will be provided in class at the beginning of the course.

Readings/Bibliography

Students are required to study the following textbooks:

for a comprehensive chronological and thematic overview, William Cleveland and Martin Bunton, A History of the Modern Middle East, Boulder: Westview Press, . [copies available from Ruffilli’s library course collection].

for background information on Islamic history and civilization: Karen Armstrong, Islam: a Short History, New York: Modern Library Chronicles, 2001. (available on line for free: [http://www.archive.org/])

The use of the historical maps is highly recommended. A very good selection of maps can be found here:

https://cmes.uchicago.edu/page/maps

Additional readings useful for working on relevant weekly key questions and in preparation for the insessional written exams will be available on Virtuale.

Non-attending students are kindly requested to contact the lecturer within 1 month after the beginning of the course (hard deadline) to fix an appointment. A first contact will be established and queries about exam preparation and study methods will be answered. Non attending students are required to study the core texts above (Cleveland and Armstrong) and will be assigned a customized bibliography (a book or a selection of scholarly articles) on a topic of their choice among the ones covered during the course.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures

Assessment methods

Two in-sessional written tests consisting of a number of open questions in week 4 (15.03.24) and 8 (19.03.24) and a final oral exam.

Teaching tools

PC, videos, slides, and maps. 

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Biancani