HI270: Introduction to the Modern Middle East

An upper-level undergraduate course I teach at Loyola University Maryland.

This seminar explores how the politics of the Middle East, US policy in the Middle East, and the Middle East as a regional system have been understood and represented through the lens of international relations theory and scholarship. The seminar develops a multilayered approach to understanding the politics of security/insecurity and the shifting regional (dis)order by integrating the role of system-level global powers, regional and transnational actors, and domestic socio- economic and ideological forces to traces shifting patterns since the end of World War II.

This seminar explores the political, economic, and cultural relations between the United States and the Middle East. It seeks to explain the nature of American policy and the role of American non-state/societal actors and institutions though an examination of changing strategic assessments, cultural attitudes, political struggles, socioeconomic forces, and ideological trends within both the US and Middle East. The basis for this seminar is a recognition of the limits of international relations scholarship to explain the nature of US policy and many aspects of the complex relationship between the US and the Middle East. So rather than a survey of the existing literature on US policy (covered in PSPA 237 and PSPA 311), this seminar explores the multidimensional history of political, economic, and cultural relations between the United States and the Middle East. In particular, it suggests that the definition of strategic interests and assessment about how best to pursue them are, in practice, shaped by cultural and ideological constructions, domestic political factors, and the actions of transnational non-state actors such as private firms, NGOs, the media, and expats in the region. Moreover, much of US-Middle East relations is shaped by actors and forces beyond official/executive US policy. Through readings, discussions, and diverse writing assignments the seminar seeks to engage students to critically think about the changing nature of the American presence(s) in the Middle East and the possible future course of US-Middle East relations.

Syllabus of a course taught within the Liberal Arts and Sciences program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUQatar) in spring 2015.

Class taught for the Theology and Religious Studies master's programme, 2016–2017 academic year, Leiden University