Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences · Political Science and International Relations (English) · Undergraduate
ECTS: 5 T+P+L: 3+0+0 Departmental Elective
Coordinator: Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Mohamed Mahmoud Mokhtar Habıb MOUSSA
Course Objective
- To increase each student’s confidence in dissecting arguments, and orally presenting ideas in a critical and logical sequence;
- Practicing academic writing skills in defining and supporting a key theory or combination of theories;
- Understanding of the main currents with regard to Islam and politics in a global context.
Course Content
This module will examine the modern development of politics and governments in the Middle East region encompassing the Arab states, Turkey, Iran, and Israel.
Required Resources
- Milton-Edwards, Beverley. Contemporary politics in the Middle East. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
Suggested Books:
- Halliday, Fred. The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics, and Ideology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Owen, Roger. State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East. London: Routledge 2007.
Recommended Resources
Suggested Books:
- Halliday, Fred. The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics, and Ideology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Owen, Roger. State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East. London: Routledge 2007.
Explanations
The mid-term and final exam will be two-hour written examinations. Candidates will be required to answer two questions, chosen from a list of four.
Rules
Attendance and participation are required. An attendance register will be taken at the start of each lesson. Two periods of lateness will count as one absence. Laptops can be used for taking lecture notes only. All mobile phones must be switched off completely before the lesson begins. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the weekly reading assignment.
Course Learning Outcomes
- - To enable students to better understand different ways of studying and comprehending the Middle East
- - To equip students with a good empirical grasp of different country cases and the ability to compare them
- - To increase each student’s confidence in dissecting arguments, and orally presenting ideas in a critical and logical sequence
Core Area Distribution
(22) Humanities%100
Teaching Methods
ExpressionQuestion-AnswerDiscussionExercise and PracticePresentationSelf studyProject Based Learning (Including Field Work)
Assessment & Evaluation
HomeworkOral ExamPerformance Assignment ( Lab / Workshop / Field Work / Seminar / Presentation / Completion Study / ThesisPortfolioTesting (Essay / Tests: True-Falls, multiple-choice, short answer, matching)
ECTS / Workload
| Activity | Quantity | Duration (h) | Total Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Duration (Including Exam Week) | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Out of Class Study Period | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Midterm | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Quiz | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Assignment | 11 | 3 | 33 |
| Practice | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Final | 1 | 3 | 3 |
Course Schedule
| Week | Subject | Preparation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ders kitapcigi tanitimi | Course introductions, syllabus review |
| 2 | the boundaries of the Middle East | “Introduction” in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards Presentation topic: Why is it difficult to determine the boundaries of the Middle East? |
| 3 | The Colonial Legacy | Chapter 1 ‘Colonial Rule: Shaping the Destiny of a Region” in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards • Chapter 2: ‘The Growth of State Power in the Arab world: The single-party regimes,’ and Chapter 3, ‘The growth of state power in the Arab world under family rule, and the Libyan alternative’ by : Owen, R. State, Power, and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, London: Routledge, 2004, Presentation topic: In what ways did resistance to colonialism shape politics in the Middle East? Discuss with reference to TWO examples. Presentation topic: What were the characteristics of colonial rule and how did they impact state formation in the Middle East? Explain using at least TWO example states, including a monarchy and a republic. |
| 4 | the Growth of State Power in the Middle East | Chapter 1 ‘Colonial Rule: Shaping the Destiny of a Region” in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards • Chapter 2: ‘The Growth of State Power in the Arab world: The single-party regimes,’ and Chapter 3, ‘The growth of state power in the Arab world under family rule, and the Libyan alternative’ by : Owen, R. State, Power, and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, London: Routledge, 2004, Presentation topic: In what ways did resistance to colonialism shape politics in the Middle East? Discuss with reference to TWO examples. Presentation topic: What were the characteristics of colonial rule and how did they impact state formation in the Middle East? Explain using at least TWO example states, including a monarchy and a republic. Presentation topic: Is the nation-state inhospitable to minorities in the region? |
| 5 | Political Ideology- Nationalism | Chapter 2 “Nationalism: the quest for Identity and Power” in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards Presentation topic: What is Arab nationalism and to what extent has it succeeded or failed? |
| 6 | Political Ideology- Religion and Politics | Chapter 5 “Past, Present and Future Politics: Islam” in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards Presentation topic: What is the role of religion in Middle East politics? Explain using at least TWO example states. Presentation topic: Does the Israeli-Palestinian conflict constitute a territorial or ideological dispute in the regional politics? |
| 7 | Foreign Intervention: The US and Europe in the Middle East | • Chapter 9 “Them and Us: the United States, EU and Russia in the Middle East in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards • Monshipouri, Mahmod, “The Paradoxes of U.S. Policy in the Middle East,” Middle East Policy, v 9 n 3, September 2002, pp. 65-84. • “West told to cease meddling in Muslim world” by Tony Hotland and Muhammad Nafik http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/08/01/west-told-cease-meddling-muslim-world.html • “Why is the legacy of confrontation so strong?” by Rami G. Khouri http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=21062&lan=en&sid=0&sp=1&isNew=0 • “The Muslim World and the West: the roots of conflict” by Ismael Hussein Zadeh http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2501/is_3_27/ai_n15795979/print Presentation topic: Has Western involvement in Middle East politics been a source of stability or instability? Discuss with reference to at least TWO levels of analysis. Presentation topic: Did the Middle East win or lose in the Cold War? Presentation topic: Is the principal conflict of the Middle East an Arab-Israeli, or a Palestinian-Israeli, conflict? |
| 8 | Filistin, İsrail ve Arap-İsrail Çatışması | Milton-Edwards, B and Hinchcliffe, P, chapter 1, ‘The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Ways of War,’ and chapter 2, ‘The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Hostages to History,’ in Conflicts in the Middle East Since 1945, 3rd Edition. Routledge, 2008: 8-35 . Simona Sharoni and Mohammed Abu-Nimer, ‘The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,’ Chapter 6 in Deborah J. Gerner and Jillian Schwedler, eds., Understanding the Contemporary Middle East , Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2004: 169-210. Hajjar, Lisa and Beinin, Joel, ‘Israel-Palestine: A Primer,’ Middle East Report Online. Avi Shlaim, “The Debate about 1948,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 27, 1995. |
| 9 | VIZE HAFTASI | MIDTERM’s Week (11-18 November) |
| 10 | Orta Dogu'da kadin | Chapter 7 “Women: the Invisible Population” in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards • Presentation topic: Islam or patriarchy stops the advance of women in the ME- discuss. Presentation topic: What socio-economic factors impact the status of women in the ME? |
| 11 | The ‘War on Terror’ in the Middle East and the 2003 War on Iraq | Wiktorowics, Quintan, and Kaltner, John, “Killing in the Name of Islam: al-Qaida‟s justification for September 11”, Middle East Policy, v. 10, i. 2, 2003, pp.76-92. • Karmon, Ely, “Al-Qa‟ida and the War on Terror: after the war in Iraq”, MERIA, v. 10, n. 1, 2006. • Cole, D. and Lobel, J. ‘Why We’re Losing the War on Terror’. Transcript: http://faculty.rcc.edu/sellick/ColeLobel.pdf Presentation topic: In what ways has the war on terror shaped Middle East regional and international politics? Presentation topic: Is civil war or inter-state war more likely in the ME? |
| 12 | Orta Dogu'da demokratiklesme | Chapter 9 “The Ephemerals of Democracy in the Middle East in the Middle East in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards • Sadowski, Yahya. ‘The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate,’ Middle East Report (1993): 14-40. • Wiktorowicz, Quintan. "The limits of democracy in the Middle East: the case of Jordan." The Middle East Journal (1999): 606-620. • Volpi, F. (2004). Pseudo‐democracy in the Muslim world. Third World Quarterly, 25(6), 1061-1078. • Somer, M. (2011). “Does it take democrats to democratize? Lessons from Islamic and secular elite values in Turkey.” Comparative Political Studies, 44(5), 511-545. • Hashemi, N. (2011). ‘The Arab Revolution of 2011: Reflections on Religion and Politics’. Insight Turkey, 13(2), 15-21. • Danahar, Paul. The New Middle East: The World After the Arab Spring. London: Bloomsbury, 2015. Chapters 1 and 3. Presentation topic: Are Middle East states really democratizing, or is authoritarianism merely being liberalized? Discuss with both Arab and non-Arab case examples. Presentation topic: Is there an argument for the exceptionalism of the Middle East when it comes to democracy? Presentation topic: What does Tunisia, post-Arab Spring, tell us about democracy promotion? |
| 13 | Orta Dogu ve demokrasi | • Chapter 9 “The Ephemerals of Democracy in the Middle East in the Middle East in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards • Sadowski, Yahya. ‘The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate,’ Middle East Report (1993): 14-40. • Wiktorowicz, Quintan. "The limits of democracy in the Middle East: the case of Jordan." The Middle East Journal (1999): 606-620. • Volpi, F. (2004). Pseudo‐democracy in the Muslim world. Third World Quarterly, 25(6), 1061-1078. • Somer, M. (2011). “Does it take democrats to democratize? Lessons from Islamic and secular elite values in Turkey.” Comparative Political Studies, 44(5), 511-545. • Hashemi, N. (2011). ‘The Arab Revolution of 2011: Reflections on Religion and Politics’. Insight Turkey, 13(2), 15-21. • Danahar, Paul. The New Middle East: The World After the Arab Spring. London: Bloomsbury, 2015. Chapters 1 and 3. Presentation topic: Are Middle East states really democratizing, or is authoritarianism merely being liberalized? Discuss with both Arab and non-Arab case examples. Presentation topic: Is there an argument for the exceptionalism of the Middle East when it comes to democracy? Presentation topic: What does Tunisia, post-Arab Spring, tell us about democracy promotion? |
| 14 | Arap Bahari | Chapter 8 ‘The Arab Spring and the New Era of Certainty” in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East by Beverly Milton-Edwards Presentation topic: What broader transformations might globalization bring to the landscapes of Muslim politics as macro forces—primarily economic ones—play out in the context of specific localities and societies? Are these trends that favor the growth and consolidation of Islamism in their present forms? Presentation topic: Will Islamists be able to reinvent themselves as problem-solvers and purveyors of effective governance? Discuss. |
| 15 | Sinav tekrari | Review |