IGA-207: Middle Eastern Politics and Policy

Semester: Spring

Credit: 1.0

Faculty: Tarek Masoud

Schedule

Day Time Location
First Day 1/26
Meet Day T/Th 1:10 PM - 2:30 PM L130
Review

Description

Explores the major political, economic, social, and security challenges facing – and emanating from – the Middle East. Particular attention paid to the durability of the regions authoritarian governments and to the fragility of its national economies. Attempts to understand the extent to which these challenges are a function of colonial legacies, Islam, peculiarities of the physical environment, demographic patterns, cultures of patriarchy, the distortions of foreign aid and oil wealth, the machinations of

great powers, or other factors. Embraces a variety of theoretical and empirical literatures, including translated works by Middle Eastern commentators, politicians, and social theorists.  Students will emerge from the course with both an understanding of a region whose geopolitical importance – to the United States and the world – shows no sign of waning, and a grounding in some of the principal analytic approaches in the study of comparative political systems.