31709 - International Relations of the Middle East

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

Section 1 (16h): 

•  I R Theory and the Middle East

•  The Middle East in the World System

•  The Cold War in the Middle East: Between the Global and the Regional

•  The Middle East after the Cold War; the 2011 Uprisings

 Section 2 (10h)

• Transnational Dimension of Political Islam and Jihadism

•  Iran and Shi'i Political Islam: Foreign Policy and Regional Projection

 Section 3 (10h):

• The Arab-Israeli conflict: an introduction
•  The Regional and International Dimension of the Six-Day War
• The Palestinian National Movement and Israel: Sources and Trajectories of their Foreign Policies

Review and conclusions (4h).

Readings/Bibliography

Textbook:

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

Further readings:

Edward W. Said, Orientalism. Western Conceptions of the Orient. (Introduction);

Raymond Hinnebusch, "The Middle East in World Hierarchy. Imperialism and Resistance", Journal of International Relations and Development, 14, 2011, pp. 213–246;

M. Mahtab Alam Rizvi, "Velayat-e-Faqih (Supreme Leader) and Iranian Foreign Policy: An Historical Analysis", Strategic Analysis, 36:1, 2012, pp. 112-127;

Roundtable: Backdrop & Reverberations of Soleimani’s Assassination, https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/40500/Roundtable-Backdrop--Reverberations-of-Soleimani%E2%80%99s-Assassination-Part-1-Iran;

Wm. Roger Louis & Avi Shlaim (eds.), The 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Origins and Consequences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012 (Ch. 1, 2, 3);

Paul Chamberlin, "The Struggle Against Oppression Everywhere: The Global Politics of Palestinian Liberation, Middle Eastern" Studies, 47:1, 2011, pp. 25-41;

Avi Shlaim, "The Iron Wall Revisited", Journal of Palestine Studies, 41:2, 2012, pp. 80-98

Fawaz Gerges, The Far Enemy. Why Jihad Went Global, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005 (Ch. 2, 3).

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

James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East: A History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Non attending students must study one of the following books in addition to the textbook and the assigned readings:

Wm. Roger Louis & Avi Shlaim (eds.), The 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Origins and Consequences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012;

Fawaz Gerges, The Far Enemy. Why Jihad Went Global, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005;

Ray Takeyh, Guardians of the Revolutions. Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009;

Massimiliano Trentin, L'ultimo califfato. L'organizzazione dello Stato islamico in Medio Oriente, Bologna Il Mulino, 2017;

Rashid Khalidi, Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East, Boston: Beacon Press, 2009;

Marina Calculli, Come uno stato: Hizbullah e la mimesi strategica, Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2018;

Galia Golan, Soviet Policies in the Middle East: From World War Two to Gorbachev, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990;

Paul Thomas Chamberlin, The Global Offensive: The United States, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and the Making of the Post-Cold War Order, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

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

Written test consisting of three questions. 

Teaching tools

Maps, slides, PC 

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Saverio Leopardi