Middle East Politics

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Tutor: Matthijs van den Bos
• Assessment: to be confirmed

This module will equip you with well-informed analyses and a thorough understanding of the domestic political structures and international relations of the region. This implies, secondly, a focus on the region post-2003, and the issues of authoritarianism and democratisation, sectarianism and Islamist politics, besides treatment of structural issues in the regional political economy. Thirdly, the module aims to study the role and place of the region in British, European and Western policy, and the effects of Middle East politics on Western states and societies.

INDICATIVE MODULE SYLLABUS

• The Middle East as a region
• Colonialism and ‘Nation-State’ systems
• Ideologies: nationalism; socialism; Islamism
• Political regimes and outcomes
• Social forces and popular culture
• Minorities and (international) migration
• Secularism in power and opposition
• Political (petro)economy and geopolitics
• Core issues in Israel/Palestine
• Middle East foreign policy
• American and European Middle East policy
• Islamist politics
• Sectarianism (the ‘Shiite Crescent’)
• Authoritarianism and democratisation
• Miscellaneous