INA826 Comparative Politics of the Middle East

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This seminar examines a number of themes pertinent to political, ideological, and socioeconomic dynamics in the Middle East. The objective of this seminar is twofold: to introduce students to the major political and socioeconomic challenges facing Middle Eastern states and societies, and to survey important debates shaping the discipline of Middle East studies. The themes examined in this seminar include the debates on Orientalism and Arab nationalism, the legacies of Middle East state formation, the politics of ethnic, religious, and sectarian identities, the rentier state and persistence of monarchical regimes, the politics of gender, the challenges of political economic restructuring and Islamist politics, and the impacts of the 2011 Arab uprisings on authoritarianism and democracy in the Arab world.