Professor F Gerges, CLM 4.06

Course intended primarily for MSc International Relations, MSc International Relations (Research), MSc International Relations Theory, MSc Theory and History of International Relations and LSE-PKU Double Degree in MSc International Affairs. Students on MSc Comparative Politics and MSc Global Politics may take the course and any other interested students where degree regulations permit. Also available to students taking MSc International Relations or MSc International Political Economy as part of the LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Affaires Internationales programme.

All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the Student Statement box on the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You. Admission is not guaranteed.
 

A knowledge of the international political system and of the major issues in its contemporary development is required. Background in IR and/or political science and/or history is a prerequisite.

The course is intended to provide an analysis of the regional politics of the Middle East since 1918, and of their interaction with problems of international security, global resources and great power/super power/hyperpower politics.

The emergence of the states system in the Middle East during the inter-war period. The interplay of domestic politics, regional conflicts and international rivalries. The Cold War and post-Cold War significance of the Middle East in global politics. The importance of oil and other economic factors and interests. Conflict in the Gulf and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The foreign policies of major Middle Eastern states and the Lebanese civil war. The role of ideologies and social movements: Arab nationalism, militarism, political Islam and global jihadism. State and non-state actors. Democracy and human rights issues. International relations theory and its significance for the study of Middle East politics.

There will be 19 weekly lectures, (IR419.1) commencing in week two of the MT and 18 seminars (IR419.2) commencing in week three of the MT. Seminar attendees will be expected to submit three 2,000-word essays, based on past examination papers, to be marked by their seminar teacher.

Students are not particularly advised to purchase any book. However, they are advised to have read, before the beginning of the course: M E Yapp, The Near East Since the First World War; and R Hinnebusch & A Ehteshami (Eds), The Foreign Policies of Middle East States.

In addition they are recommended to consult: Reinhard Schulze, A Modern History of the Islamic World; B Lewis, The Middle East; F Halliday, Islam and the Myth of Confrontation; F Ajami, The Arab Predicament;  B Korany & A Dessouki (Eds), The Foreign Policies of Arab States; John Roberts, Visions and Mirages, The Middle East in a New Era; Fred Halliday, The Middle East in International Relations; Fawaz A. Gerges, The Superpowers and the Middle East: Regional and International Politics. A detailed reading list will be distributed.

There is one three-hour examination in the ST.