Middle East Politics
Eastern Michigan University
Fall 2014
Political Science 371
T/Th 12:30-1:45 p.m., 117 Marshall
Ebrahim K. Soltani
602E Pray-Harrold
ekhalife@emich.edu
Office Hours: T/Th 8:30-11:00 a.m.
Course Description
Few regions of the world approach the Middle East for the richness of its past, the
turmoil of its present, and the uncertainty of its future. This course provides analytical
tools to critically reflect on this turmoil/uncertainty and, accordingly, examines some of
the most important contemporary sociopolitical struggles in the Middle East: The rise of
political Islam, the Islamic Revolution, the September 11 attacks, the Arab Spring, and
the Arab-Israeli Conflict. This course, also, explores the struggles of multiple social
movements and non-movements to shed light on the politics of change in the Middle
East. In the last part of the course, we will turn our attention to the question of Islam and
democracy in the Middle East.
Course Requirements
Attendance: You are expected to attend each class and arrive on time. Attendance is
essential for success in this class and is mandatory. Lectures will critically reinforce and
supplement readings. I take attendance at the beginning of each class. If you miss a class
session, then your final grade will be penalized. However, this penalty will be waived, if
you write an adequate one page response to the assigned reading for the class session you
missed and submit this response by the next class session.
Participation: You are expected to read all of the materials assigned for this course. I
intend to devote a significant portion of class time to discussing the assigned texts, and
expect active participation from all students. This includes listening carefully to other
students when they are speaking.
Quiz: You will be given blank maps of the Middle East and asked to identify countries,
capitals, and oceans/waterways. This quiz will be on September 9.
Mid-term Exam: There will be an in-class midterm exam on October 21.
Research Paper: You are expected to write a 6-8 pages (2100-2800 words) paper. The
choice of subject for the paper should be first cleared in individual discussions with the
instructor. You need to provide a one-page outline of your paper by November 6. The
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outline should contain a title, the main argument/finding, and a preliminary bibliography.
The paper is due on December 11. Further guidelines on how to write the papers will be
provided in class.
Final Exam: You will have a final exam on December 18 (Time: 11:30-1:00, Location:
TBA).

Late work will be reduced one letter grade per day, and missed exams or quizzes
will receive a zero, unless there is a legitimate documented excuse. It is your
responsibility to notify me before the assignment due date or scheduled date of
the exam.
Grading Criteria
Assignment
Attendance
Participation
Quiz
Midterm Exam
One Page Paper Outline
Research Paper
Final Exam
When
All the time
All the time
September 9
October 21
November 6
December 11
December 18
Percentage
10%
10%
5%
25%
---25%
25%
Required Texts
1. The Contemporary Middle East: A Westview Reader, Edited by Karl Yambert, Third
Edition, 2013, Westview Press.
2. Life As Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East, Asef Bayat, Second
Edition, 2013, Stanford University Press.
All of the non-textbook readings listed under class assignments are available online,
which you can download and print.
In addition to reading assignments, you will be expected to follow developments in the
Middle East. Thus, everyone is encouraged to visit the following dedicated Middle East
pages:
Al-Jazeera English: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/default.stm
New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/middleeast/index.html
Foreign Policy: http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/
Academic Dishonesty
The EMU Code of Student Conduct forbids plagiarism. Students should be familiar with
the Code: http://www.emich.edu/policies/policy.php?id=124. Any assignment that is
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plagiarized will receive a score of zero, and may be referred to the EMU Office of
Student Conduct. Similarly, cheating on exams is forbidden and will also result in a zero
score on the exam. For more detailed information on what plagiarism is and how to avoid
it, see: http://www.emich.edu/library/help/integratingsources.php
Topics and Assignments
Introduction
Th Sep 4
 Syllabus Review
 Is There a Middle East?
 Familiarize yourself with the map.
 Eric Davis, “10 Conceptual Sins in Analyzing Middle East Politics.”
http://new-middle-east.blogspot.com/2009/01/10-conceptual-sins-in-analyzingmiddle.html
The Making of the Middle East: Drawing vs. Making States
T Sep 9
 Map Quiz
 Yambert, chapter 1
 Angrist, Michele. 2013. “The Making of Middle East Politics,” in Politics and
Society in the Contemporary Middle East, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1-32.
https://www.rienner.com/uploads/51c8b05797f4c.pdf
9/11: Perceptions of US Policy in the Middle East
Th Sep 11
 Yambert, chapters 2, 3
 Lewis, Bernard. 1990. “The Roots of Muslim Rage”.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1990/09/the-roots-of-muslimrage/304643/?single_page=true
 Habermas, Jürgen and Jacques Derrida. 2003. “Philosophy in a Time of Terror.”
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/066649.html
Social Non-movements: Politics of Change in the Middle East
T Sep 16
 Bayat, chapters 1, 2
Th Sep 18
 Mogadam, Valentine and Tabitha Decker. 2014. “Social Change in the Middles
East,” in The Middle East, CQ Press, 73-106.
http://www.northeastern.edu/advance/wp-content/uploads/Moghadam-andDecker.pdf
Islamism, Modernism, and Feminism: Politics of Gender
T Sep 23
 Bayat, Chapter 4
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
Joseph, Suad. 1996. “Gender and Citizenship in Middle Eastern States”.
http://www.merip.org/mer/mer198/gender-citizenship-middle-eastern-states
 Tohidi, Nayereh. 2010. “Beyond Islamic Feminism,” in Islamic Feminism and
Beyond: The New Frontier, Woodrow Wilson Center, 18-22.
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/islamicfeminism.pdf
Th Sep 25
 Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2002. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” American
Anthropologist: 783-790.
http://org.uib.no/smi/seminars/Pensum/Abu-Lughod.pdf
 Woodrow Wilson Center, Middle East Program. 2012. “Is the Arab Awakening
Marginalizing Women?”
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Arab%20Awakening%20Marginal
izing%20Women_0.pdf
The Politics of Fun
T Sep 30
 Bayat, chapters 5, 6
Islamic Revolution
Th Oct 2
 Yambert, chapters 20, 21, 22
 Kurzman, Charles. 1996. “Structural Opportunity and Perceived Opportunity in
Social-Movement Theory: The Iranian Revolution of 1979,” American
Sociological Review 61: 153-170.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2096411
T Oct 7
 Skocpol, Theda. 1982. "Rentier State and Shi'a Islam in the Iranian Revolution,"
Theory and Society 11, no. 3: 265-283
http://www.jstor.org/stable/657269
 Bayat, chapters 7, 8, 14
The Arab Spring
Th Oct 9
 Yambert, chapters 27, 28 29, 30
 Anderson, Lisa. 2011. "Demystifying the Arab Spring," Foreign Affairs 90, 3: pp.
2-7.
http://mist914.wikispaces.com/file/view/The+New+Arab+Revolt.pdf
T Oct 14
 Video: The Square (Al midan), 2013, 95 minutes.
Th Oct 16
 Bayat, chapters 11, 12, 13
 Al-Azm, Sadek. 2011. “The Arab Spring: “Why Exactly at this Time?” Reason
Papers 33: 223-229.
http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/33/rp_33_18.pdf
T Oct 21: Midterm Exam
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Political Economy of the Middle East
Th Oct 23
 Ross, Michael. 2001. “Does Oil Hinder Democracy?” World Politics 53, 3: 325361.
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/uploadedFiles/exed/sites/ldf/Academic/Ross%20%20Does%20Oil%20Hinder%20Democracy.pdf
 Yambert, chapters 4, 5
T Oct 28
 Kuran, Timur. 2004. “Why the Middle East is Economically Underdeveloped:
Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation.” The Journal of Economic
Perspectives18, 3: 71-90.
https://econ.duke.edu/uploads/assets/People/Kuran/Why%20ME%20underdevelo
ped.pdf
 Diamond, Larry. 2010. “Why Are There No Arab Democracies?” Journal of
Democracy 21, 1: 93-104.
http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Diamond-21-1.pdf
Politics of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Th Oct 30
 Yambert, chapters 7, 9, 10, 11, 12
 Council on Foreign Relations Interactive Guide to the Crisis
http://www.cfr.org/israel/crisis-guide-israeli-palestinian-conflict/p13850
T Nov 4
 Said, Edward. 1999. “The One-State Solution: Why the only answer to Middle
East peace is Palestinians and Israelis living as equal citizens under one flag,” The
New York Times, 36-39. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/10/magazine/the-onestate-solution.html?src=pm&pagewanted=1
 Kelman, Herbert. 2009. “A One-Country/Two-State Solution to the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict
http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hckelman/files/one_country_two_state_solution.p
df
Th Nov 6
 Yambert, chapters 8, 13, 14, 23, 24. One-page paper outline is due.
T Nov 11
 Video: Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict, 2007, 80 minutes.
The Logic of Terrorism and Radical Islamism
Th Nov 13
 Pape, Robert. 2005. “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.”
https://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/APSRAug03Pape.pdf
 Video: Dying to Win, 28 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tEsWRXV_BM
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T Nov 18
 Kurzman, Charles. 2002. “Bin Laden and Other Thoroughly Modern Muslims.”
Contexts 1, 4: 13-20.
http://www.unc.edu/~kurzman/cv/Kurzman_Bin_Laden_and_Other.pdf
Recommended:
 Lacroix, Stephane. 2012. “Sheikhs and Politicians: Inside the New Egyptian
Salafism.” Brookings Doha Center.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/6/07%20egyptian%
20salafism%20lacroix/stephane%20lacroix%20policy%20briefing%20english.pdf
Th Nov 20
 Gause, Gregory. 2005. “Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?” Foreign Affairs 84.
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/61021/f-gregory-gause-iii/can-democracystop-terrorism
 Stoddard, Steve. 2010. “Rethinking the Relationship Between Democracy and
Terrorism.” International Affairs Review.
http://www.iargwu.org/sites/default/files/articlepdfs/Democracy%20and%20Terrorism.pdf
T Nov 25: No Class (Professor attends AMUN Conference)
Th Nov 27: No Class (Thanksgiving Recess)
Islam and Democracy in the Middle East
T Dec 2
 Moaddel, Mansoor. 2008. “Religious Regimes and Prospects for Liberal Politics:
Futures of Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.”
http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr08-641.pdf
 Moaddel, Mansoor and Julie De Jong. 2013. “Trends in Values among Saudi
Youth: Findings from Values Surveys.”
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_childhood_and_youth/v00
6/6.1.de-jong.pdf
Th Dec 4
 Tessler, Mark. 2002. "Islam and Democracy in the Middle East: The Impact of
Religious Orientations on Attitudes toward Democracy in Four Arab Countries.”
http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~spath/351/Readings/Tessler%20%20Islam%20and%20Democracy%20in%20the%20Middle%20East.pdf
 Hawthorne, Amy. 2004. “Is Civil Society the Answer?”
http://carnegieendowment.org/files/CarnegiePaper44.pdf
Post-Islamist Democracy?
T Dec 9
 Bayat, chapter 15
 Yambert, chapter 31
Th Dec 11: Looking Forward: Summary/Review, Research paper is due.
Th Dec 18: Final Exam 11:30-1:00
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