POL479H1F L5101

Topics in Middle East Politics

Rethinking Middle East Politics

Themes

How should we understand political phenomena in the Middle East beyond notions of failure and reform, or better yet, failure to reform? How can we think of the region and the collective lifeworlds people have built, as well as the multiple forms of dispossessions that characterize their lives with terms beyond authoritarianism and Islamism? This seminar presents students with three themes that have come to define this region: development, state (failure), and peace. Bringing together readings from various disciplines such as history, sociology, urban studies, and political sciences, we will address these themes as they attach to particular geographies and rethink them to rethink Middle East Politics.

Texts

Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts; Nadje al-Ali, Iraqi Women; Haddad, Bsheer, Abu-Rish (Eds), The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings; Rafi Segal and Eyal Weizman, A Civilian Occupation; among others.

Format and Requirements

A combination of weekly responses in relation to the readings, in-class essays, and/or a research paper.