29651 - Political Development in the Middle East

Learning outcomes

The course deals with State and Nation building processes in the Middle East from the end of the Ottoman Empire until  today. In particular it analyses roots and reasons of the region failed democratisation , with the two exceptions of Israel and Turkey; the impact on States political development of the numerous regional conflicts, before and after the Cold War, from the Arab-Israeli- Palestinian conflict to the 2003 Iraq war; the paralysis of Middle eastern civil society; the development of Islamism, in its radical and moderate forms, as the only opposition force which could represent a threat to regional and international stability under the species of global terrorism. Particular attention will be given to Gulf theocracies from Saudi Arabia to the post-Khomeini  Iran. At the end of the course students will be able to critically examine the political dinamics of Middle Easten regimes, with reference to the relevant scholarly literature.

Course contents

Week 1- Consensus crisis in the Arab Regimes: the Republics

First Case-study: Egypt

Readings:

E. Piffero, Egitto: l'equilibrio dinamico del pluralismo autoritario, Paper presentato al Quinto Convegno della Società per lo Studio della Diffusione della Democrazia, Firenze, Palazzo Strozzi, 16 giugno 2007

- I. Saad Eddin, “Reform and Frustration in Egypt”, in Journal of Democracy, vol.21, n.2, Oct.1996, pp. 125-135

E. Kienle, “More than a Response to Islamism: the Political Deliberalization of Egypt in the 1990s”, in Middle East Journal, Vol. 52, n. 2, Spring 1988, pp. 219-235

Week 2- Consensus Crisis in the Arab Regimes: the Monarchies

Second Case Study: Jordan

Readings:

L. Anderson, “Absolutism and the Resilience of Monarchy in the Middle East” in Political Science Quarterly, vol. 106, n.1, 1991, pp. 1-15

G. Robinson, “Defensive Democratization in Jordan”, in International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, n.30, 1999,  pp. 387-410

R. Lucas, “Deliberalization in Jordan” in Journal of Democracy, vol. 14, n. 1, Jan. 2003, pp. 137-144

S.L. Yom, “Jordan: Ten More Years of Autocracy” in Journal of Democracy, vol. 20, n.4, Oct. 2009, pp. 151-166

 

Week 3: The Debate on the liberalization- democratization in the Middle East

Readings:

G. Kramer, “Liberalization and Democracy in the Arab World”, in Middle East Report, n.174, 1992, pp. 22-25+ 35

D. Brumberg, “The Trap of Liberalized Autocracy” in Journal of Democracy, vol. 13, n.4, 2002, pp. 56-68

T. Carothers, “The End of the Transition Paradigm”, in Journal of Democracy, vol. 13, n.1, 2002, pp. 5-21

R. Hinnebusch, “Authoritarian Persistence, Democratization Theory and the Middle East: an Overview and Critique”, in Democratization, vol.13, n.2, 2006, pp. 373-395

 

Week 4- Elections, Democracy and Islam

Readings:

M. Pripstein Posusney, “Behind the Ballot Box: Electoral Engineering in the Arab World”, in Middle East Report, n. 209, 1998, pp. 12-16+ 42

E. Lust-Okar, “Competitive Clientelism in the Middle East”, in Journal of Democracy, vol. 20, n.3, July 2009, pp. 122-135.

S. Zubaida, “Islam, the State and Democracy: Contrasting Conceptions of Society”, in Middle East Report, n.179, 1992, pp. 2-10

Y. Sadowski, “The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate”, in Middle East Report, no. 193, 1993, pp. 14-21+ 40-41

M. Tessler, “Islam and Democracy in the Middle East: the Impact of Religious Orientations on Attitudes Towards Democracy in Four Arab Countries”, in Comparative Politics, vol.34, n.3, April 2002, pp. 337-354

J. Schwedler, “A paradox of democracy? Islamist Participation in Elections”, in Middle East Report, n. 209, 1998, pp. 25-29 + 41

C. Kurzman & I. Naqvi, “Do Muslims Vote Islamic'” in Journal of Democracy, vol. 21, no.2, April 2010, pp. 50-36

C.R. Wickham, “Mobilising Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt”, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 106-118 e 204-226

A. Hamzawi et al., “What Islamists Need To Be Clear About: the Case of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood”, Carnagie  Endowment for International Peace, Policy Outlook, no. 35, Democracy and Rule of Law Program, Middle East Series, n. 63

Week 5 –Lebanon : the failure of “communitarian democracy” and its difficult re-construction

Readings:

G. Corm, Il Libano contemporaneo, Milano: Jaca Book, 2006, pp. 103-160

International Crisis Group, Hizbollah and the Lebanese Crisis, Middle East Report n. 69, 10 October 2007

International Crisis Group, La nouvelle equation lebanaise: le role central des Chretiens, Middle East Report n. 78- 15 juillet 2008

 

 

Week 6- The Crisis of Rentier States

Readings:

H. Beblawi, “The Rentier State in the Arab World”, in G. Luciani (Ed.) The Arab State, London: Routledge, pp. 85-98

R. Schwartz, State Formation Processes in Rentier States: the Middle Eastern Case, paper presented at the 5th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, The Hague, 9-11 September 2004 

M.L. Ross, “Does Oil Hinder Democracy” in World Politics, vol. 53, n.3, April 2001, pp. 325-361

 

Week 7- Islamic Rentier States 1: Saudi Arabia

Readings:  

M. Emiliani, Rentier States arabi in crisi: il caso dell'Arabia Saudita, in Scienza e Politica, n.34. 2006, pp. 75-89

G Salameh, “Political Power and the Saudi State”, in MERIP Reports, n. 91, 1980, pp. 5-22

G. Okruhlik, “Rentier Wealth, Unruly Law and the Rise of Opposition: the Political Economy of Oil States” in Comparative Politics, vol.31, n.3, pp. 295-315

Week 8-Islamic Rentier States 2: Iran, Shi'ah and revolution, Khomeinism

Readings:

M. Bayat, “The Iranian Revolution of 1978-79: Fundamentalist or Modern” in Middle East Journal,  vol. 37, n., Winter 1983, pp. 30-42

R. W. Cottam, “Inside Revolutionary Iran” in Middle East Journal, vol. 43, n.2, Spring 1989, pp.168-186

Week 9- Islamic Rentier States 2: Iran and its political trajectory after the Revolution

Readings:

M. Wells, “Thermidor in the Islamic Republic of Iran: the Rise of Muhammad Khatami” in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 26, n. 1, 1999, pp. 27-39

D. Brumberg, “Is Iran Democratizing: A Comparativist's Perspective” in Journal of Democracy, vol. 11, n.4, Oct. 2000, pp. 129-134

A. Abootalebi, “Iran's struggle for Democracy Continue: an Evaluation of Twenty-Five Years after the Revolution” in Middle East Review of International Affairs, vol. 8, n.2, 2004, pp. 38-47

M. McFaul, A. Milani, and L. Diamond, “A Win-Win Strategy for Dealing with Iran” in The Washington Quarterly, vol. 30, n.1, 2006-2007, pp. 121-138

M.Emiliani, M. Ranuzzi de'Bianchi e E.Atzori, Nel nome di Omar, Rivoluzione, clero e potere in Iran, Bologna, Odoya, 2008, pp. 183-328

Week 10- Media & Conflicts in the Middle East: Iraq and Afghanistan (Dr. Enrico De Angelis)

Readings:

E. De Angelis, Guerra e Mass Media, Roma: Carocci, 2007, capitolo 5

M. Oliva, Fuori Fuoco, Bologna: Odoya, 2007, capitolo 4

Readings/Bibliography

Regardless of the degree they are studing for, students are requested to sudy the following texts: I W.L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, 3rd Edition, Oxford: Westview Press, 2004

R. Owen, Stato, potere e politica nella formazione del Medio Oriente modern, Bologna: il Ponte 2005

B. Lewis, Il linguaggio politico dell'Islam, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2005

Compulsory readings are listed in the “Contents” section, and they are subdivided according to the relevant week of classes. All the books the readings have been excerpted from are available in the Departmental Library (Strada Maggiore 45) and in the Biblioteca Cabral (via Sam Mamolo24).

Electronic articles can be downloaded from the “Teaching Materials Section” on AMS CAMPUS.

Electronic Resources:

As further comprehensive sources of information on a very wide range of themes and aspects of Middle Eastern history and politics, students might want to take a look at the following websites:

http://w3fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/ [MESA- Middle Eastern Studies Association of North America  homepage]

http://www.albawaba.com/ [Albawaba Middle East gateway]

http://www.mideasti.org/ [Middle East Institute]

http://www.AISIsraelstudies.org/ais.htm [Association for Israel studies]

http://www.merip.org/ [MERIP]

http://menic.utexas.edu/menic.html [Centre for ME Studies, University of Texas at Austin]

http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/ [Al-Ahram Weekly]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/ [BBC World Service]

Some scholarly journals that can be accessed electronically through the University of Bologna Server are:

British Journal of Middle East Studies

Bulletin (British Society of Middle Eastern Studies)

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

International Journal of Middle East Studies

Journal of Palestine Studies

MERIP Middle East Report

You can access these publications via an electronic archive called JSTOR, www.jstor.org . As a University of Bologna student having an userID and a password, you can access JSTOR and many more thematic data-bases :

a-      On campus, from any PC on the University premises

b-     off campus, by configuring  a proxy connection to the University Server. Follow the instruction on http://w3.cib.unibo.it/internet/proxy-almanet/

Non-attending students, in addition to studying the core manuals, will have to prepare a presentation on a chosen topic. Therefore, they are expected to contact the lecture during her office hours to get advice on the bibliography

 

Teaching methods

If the number  of registered students is not more than 25, the course will feature a combination of lectures and tutorials. In this case, once a week for two hours, students will be invited to present and discuss with their fellow the content of the weekly readings.

Assessment methods

Final oral exam

Teaching tools

pc, videos, maps

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Biancani