31709 - International Relations of the Middle East

Academic Year 2018/2019

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing students with an overview of the system of international relations in of the Middle East. At the end of the course students will be knowledgeble about the main issues and problems of MENA Internatioanal Relations Studies: main factors in State and Nation building processes in the area (identity, religion, natural resources); the main regional conflicts and their interaction with global conflicts such as the Cold War, or the global war on terror; roots of domestic political instability in the region, in both Middle Eastern secular republics and theocratic Gulf States, and their impact on regional confictuality and international relations.

Course contents

Week 1- I R Theory and the Middle East

Week 2- Foreign Policy in the Making: States and Society

Week 3- State and Nation Building in the Middle East during the Colonial Period.

Week 4- The Cold War in the Middle East between the global and the regional

Week 5- The Middle East after the Cold War

Week 6- International Relations of the Middle East and conflict

Week 7- Political Ideologies in the Middle East: Nationalisms and Islamo-nationalisms.

Week 8- Challenges to the State in the Middle East: transnational movements

Week 9- Political Economy of International Relations in the Middel East

Week 10 - Review and conclusions

Readings/Bibliography

Louise Fawcett, International Relations of the Middle East, Oxford University Press (3rd edition), 2013

Raymond Hinnebusch, The International Politics of the Middle East. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2003 (available also in Italian: Raymond Hinnebusch, La politica internazionale del Medio Oriente. Bologna: Il Ponte, 2010), chaps. 1,2,7,8. 

Fred Halliday, The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics, and Ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. (Available also in Italian as Fred Halliday, Il Medio Oriente, Potere, Politica e Ideologia. Milano: V&P, 2007), chapter 2. 

For a historical overview (highly recommended to those who did not take a minor/major in History of the Modern Middle East before):

Marcella Emiliani, Medio Oriente: una storiadal 1981 al1991 e Medio Oriente: una storia dal 1991 a oggi (Bari: Laterza, 2012)

alternatively if English preferred :

William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, Boulder CO: Westview Press, 2013.

Non attending students must agree on a customized bibliography focusing on a preferred topic among those covered during the course. THEY ARE REQUESTED TO CONTACT THE LECTURER, EITHER BY EMAIL OR DURING OFFICE HOURS, NO LATER THAN WEEK 4. STRICT DEADLINE.

The following resources can be used productively to research on various topics in history, politics and international relations of the Modern Middle East.

http://jadaliyya.com [http://jadaliyya.com/] [ indipendent e-by ASI, Arab Studies Institute]

http://merip.org [http://merip.org/] [Middle East Research and Information Project]

http://w3fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/ [MESA homepage]

http://www.albawaba.com/ [Albawaba Middle East gateway]

http://www.mideast.org/ [Middle East Institute]

http://menic.utexas.edu/menic.html [Centre for ME Studies, Univ of Texas at Austin]

http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/ [Al-Ahram Weekly]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/ [BBC World Service]

Academic journal specialized in Middle Eastern Studies:

British Journal of Middle East Studies

Bulletin (British Society of Middle Eastern Studies)

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

International Journal of Middle East Studies

Journal of Palestine Studies

Middle East Report

MERIP Middle East Report

MERIP Reports

Access to these journal is free for all UNIBO students via the University Library System (see how to connect by remote to the Uni server in order to access these resources when you're not on campus

http://www.sba.unibo.it/it/almare/servizi-e-strumenti-almare/connessione-da-remoto

Teaching methods

Lectures

Assessment methods

Oral exam at the end of the course (100% final grade)

Teaching tools

Maps, slides, PC 

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Biancani