BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICS
POLITICS 133a: CONTEMPORARY POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Spring 2016
Eva Bellin
Lemberg 225
781- 736- 5336
ebellin@brandeis.edu
Office Hours: Mondays 1-3 pm
Course Overview
Introduction to the politics of the region through the study of regimes in Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Israel. Themes include the political legacy of colonialism,
the challenge of ethnic pluralism, the rise of political Islam, the politics of gender, the role of the
military in politics, the dynamics of regime survival, the persistence of authoritarianism and the
prospects for democratization, and the implications of the Arab spring for the future of the
region.
Course Objectives
In addition to mastering the substantive material described above, this course aims to
improve your critical thinking skills by training you in abstract concepts and arguments and
practicing you in testing those concepts and arguments against empirical evidence. The course
also aims to build your writing skills and your capacity to make your own compelling arguments
through practice in writing clear thesis statements and the mobilization of persuasive evidence in
support of your positions.
Course Requirements
All students will be expected to keep up with weekly readings and participate in class
discussions. Attendance is mandatory and will count toward 5% of grade. A map quiz will be
given at the beginning of the semester and will count toward 5% of grade. The mid-term (inclass) examination will count for 25% and the final examination for 25% of the final grade. Two
writing assignments (5 pages each) will count for 20% of the final grade (each).
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Work Load
Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a
minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion
sections, preparation for exams, etc.).
Important Dates
Map Quiz: Third week of classes
First Essay Assignment Handed Out: Monday, February 8
First Essay Due: Monday, February 22
Midterm Exam: Monday, March 21
Second Essay Assignment Handed Out: Monday, April 13
Second Essay Due: Monday, April 20
Final Exam: May (to be determined by Registrar)
Reading Material
A reader containing all assigned readings will be available for purchase through the Politics
Department (Olin-Sang 204).
Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and
wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please speak to Professor
Bellin at the start of the semester.
Academic Intergrity
You are expected to be familiar with and to follow the University’s policies on academic
integrity (see http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/sdc/ai ). Any suspected instances of alleged
dishonesty will be referred to the Office of Student Development and Conduct. Instances of
academic dishonesty may result in sanctions including but not limited to, failing grades being
issued, educational programs, and other consequences.
Cell Phone/Laptops in the Classroom
Use of cell phones in class, for talking, texting or reading/writing email is prohibited. If
you wish to leave your cell phone on in “Silent” mode because of an ongoing emergency
situation, please alert Professor Bellin at the start of class.
Use of laptops in class is prohibited. If you have a documented disability that requires
note taking on a laptop, please consult with Professor Bellin at the start of the semester.
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Class Schedule
Lecture 1: The Middle East as Political Subject (Wednesday, January 13)
Themes: Recapturing Rationality; Regional Coherence; Regional Diversity
David Long, Bernard Reich, and Mark Gasiorowski (eds.), The Government and Politics
of the Middle East and North Africa (Boulder, Co: Westview, 2011); 1-11,
Monday: No classes! Martin Luther King Birthday
Lectures 2 and 3: Theoretical Background - State and Regimes (Wednesday January 20, and
Monday January 25)
Themes: Patrimonialism, Authoritarianism, and Democracy
Max Weber, Theory of Social and Economic Organization (Free Press, 1947): 152-157;
333-345.
James Bill and Robert Springborg, "Patterns of Patrimonialism in the Middle East," in
Bill & Springborg, Politics in the Middle East (NY: HarperCollins, 1994):150-175.
Terry Karl, “What Democracy Is...And Is Not,” Journal of Democracy (1991).
Juan Linz, "An Authoritarian Regime: Spain," in Erik Allardt (ed.), Mass Politics (NY:
Free Press, 1971):251-268.
Lectures 4 and 5: Saudi Arabia - Rentier Patrimonial State (Wednesday January 27 and
Monday February 1)
Themes: Historical Origins of the Saudi State; the Logic of Patrimonialism; Pillars of the
Saudi Regime (Coercion, Persuasion, Exchange)
Monte Palmer, “The Politics of Saudi Arabia,” Monte Palmer, The Politics of the Middle
East (Ithaca, NY: F.E. Peacock Publishers, 2002): 221-274
Madawi al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia
2010): 211-233; 242- 270.
.
(NY: Cambridge University Press,
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Lectures 6 and 7: Saudi Arabia – Rentier Patrimonial State (Wednesday February 3 and
Monday February 8)
Themes: The Rentier Paradigm; Sources of Contestation and Transformation - the Shi’a,
Islamists, Women, the Middle Class, the Military; Crisis of Succession; The Puzzle of Regime
Survival? The Puzzle of Female Subordination?
Hazem Beblawi “The Rentier State in the Arab World,” and Giacomo Luciani,
“Allocation vs. Production States: A Theoretical Approach,” in Giacomo Luciani (ed.) the Arab
State (Berkeley, University of California: 1990): 65-98.
Jacob Goldberg, “The Shi’a Minority in Saudi Arabia,” in Juan Cole and Nikki Keddie
(eds.) Shi’ism and Social Protest (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1983):230-246.
Eleanor Abdella Doumato, "Women and the Stability of Saudi Arabia," Middle East
Report, No. 171 (July/August 1991):35-37.
Amelie Le Renard, “Only for Women: Women, the State, and Reform in Saudi Arabia”
Middle East Journal 62:4 (Autumn 2008): 610-629.
Gwenn Okruhlik, “Networks of Dissent: Islamism and Reform in Saudi Arabia,” Current
History 101 (January 2002): 22-29.
Abdelaziz Sager, “Political Opposition in Saudi Arabia,” in Gerd Nonneman and Paul
Aarts (eds.) Saudi Arabia in the Balance (London: C. Hurst, 2005): 214-234.
Frederic Wehrey, “The Saudi Thermidor,” in Current History 113(December 2014):344350.
Freedom House Report: Saudi Arabia 2015 Find this at:
www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2015/saudi-arabia
First Essay Distributed in Class on Monday February 8; Essay due in class on Monday
February 22)
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Lectures 8 and 9: Syria - Praetorian Exclusionary State (Wednesday February 10 and
Monday February 22)
Themes: Historical Origins of the Syrian State; the Ba’athi Revolution; Logic of the
Ba’athi/Assad Regime - Authoritarian? Totalitarian? Patrimonial? Democratic? The
Mukhabarat State
Monte Palmer, “The Politics of Syria,” Monte Palmer, The Politics of the Middle East
(Ithaca, NY: F.E. Peacock Publishers, 2002):173-220.
Middle East Watch, Syria Unmasked (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991): 38-62.
Thomas Friedman,"Hama Rules" in From Beirut to Jerusalem (NY: Farrar, Straus,
Giroux, 1989):76-105.
February Break: February 15-19 (No Classes!)
Lectures 10 and 11: Syria - Praetorian Exclusionary State ( Wednesday February 24 and
Monday February 29)
Themes: Sources of Contestation and Transformation - Islamists, the Private Sector;
The Puzzle of the Civil War; The Way Forward?
Carsten Wieland, Syria: A Decade of Lost Chances (Cune Press, 2012): 79-193; 6178;16-27
Samer Abboud, “How Syria Fell to Pieces,” Current History (December 2015): 337-342.
Lectures 12 and 13: Egypt – From Popular Authoritarianism to Electoral Authoritarian
State (Wednesday March 2 and Monday March 7)
Themes: Historical Origins of the Egyptian State; The Free Officer’s Revolution; The
Regimes of Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak; the Trap of Liberalized Autocracy
Monte Palmer, “The Politics of Egypt,” Monte Palmer, The Politics of the Middle East
(Ithaca, NY: F.E. Peacock Publishers, 2002):44-102.
Tareq Ismael and Jacqueline Ismael, “The Arab Republic of Egypt,” in Government and
Politics in the Middle East (London, Routledge): 361-385.
Maye Kassem, “Political Parties and Participation,” in Egyptian Politics: The Dynamics
of Authoritarian Rule (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2004): 49-82.
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Lectures 14 and 15: Egypt – From Popular Authoritarianism to Electoral Authoritarian
State (Wednesday March 9 and Monday March 14)
Themes: Sources of Contestation and Transformation - Islamists, Copts, the Military, the
Private Sector; The Tahrir Uprising; Reversion to Authoritarianism?
Dina Shehata, “Islamists and Secularists in Egyptian Opposition”, Islamists and
Secularists in Egypt (London: Routledge, 2010): 51-82.
Ami Ayalon “Egypt’s Coptic Pandora’s Box” in Ofra Bengio and Gabriel Ben-Dor (eds.)
Minorities and the State in the Arab World (Boulder, Lynne Reinner: 1999):53-72.
Diane Singerman, “Youth, Gender, and Dignity in the Egyptian Uprising,” Journal of
Middle East Women’s Studies (Volume 9, No. 3) Fall 2013.
Augustus Richard Norton, “The Return of Egypt’s Deep State,” Current History
(December 2013): 338-344.
Emad El-Din Shahin, “Egypt’s Revolution Turned on its Head,” Current History
(December 2015):343-348
Wednesday March 16: Wiggle Day
Monday March 21: Midterm Exam
Lectures 16 and 17: Lebanon - Consociational Democracy (Wednesday March 23 and
Wednesday March 30) (Monday March 28: Mid-semester break: No Classes!)
Themes: Historical Origins of the Lebanese State; Institutionalization of Confessional
Pluralism; Lebanon as Democracy? The Logic and Failures of Consociationalism
William Harris, “Republic of Lebanon,” in David Long et al (eds.) Government and
Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (Boulder, Co: Westview, 2011): 233-266.
David Gilmour, "Democracy: The Lebanese Version" in his book Lebanon: The
Fractured Country (NY: St. Martins Press, 1983):34-51.
Fouad Ajami, The Vanished Imam (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1986):63-72
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Bassel Salloukh, The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon :32-50; 88-109.
Tamirace Fakhoury, “Lebanon’s Perilous Balancing Act,” Current History (December
2015): 349-354.
Lectures 18 and 19: Turkey – Emergent Democracy (Wednesday March 30 and Wednesday
April 6) (April 4: No Class)
Themes: Historical Origins of the Turkish State; Strengths and Weakness of Turkish
Democracy
Henri Barkey and Omer Taspinar, “Republic of Turkey” in David Long et al (eds.),
Government and Politics of the Middle East (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2011); 15-47.
Feroz Ahmad, “Politics and Political Parties in Republican Turkey” in Resat Kasaba
(ed.), The Cambridge History of Turkey, Volume 4 (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008):
226-266.
Lectures 20 and 21: Turkey - Emergent Democracy (Monday April 11 and Wednesday April
13)
Themes: Sources of Contestation and Transformation: the Military, Islamists, Women,
Kurds; the Explosion of Identity Politics
Jenny White, “Islam and Politics in Contemporary Turkey,” in Resat Kasaba (ed.), The
Cambridge History of Turkey, Volume 4 (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008): 357-380.
Ibrahim Kalin, “The AK Party in Turkey” in John Esposito and Emad El-Din Shahin, The
Oxford Habook of Islam and Politics (NY: 2014): 423-439.
“Headscarf Controversy in Turkey” (See Wikipedia entry)
Umit Cizre, “Ideology, Context, and Interest: The Turkish Military” in Resat Kasaba
(ed.), The Cambridge History of Turkey, Volume 4 (NY: Cambridge University Press,
2008):301-332.
Mesut Yegen, “The Kurdish Question in Turkey: Denial to Recognition” in Marlies
Casier (ed.), Nationalisms and Politics in Turkey (NY: Routledge, 2011): 67-80.
Jenny White, “Turkey at a Tipping Point,” Current History (December 2015): 356-361.
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Second essay topic handed out in class on Wednesday April 13. Due in Class on
Wednesday April 20.
Lectures 22 and 23: Israel - Ethnic Democracy? (Monday April 18 and Wednesday April 20)
Theme: Historical origins of the Israeli State; Strengths and Weaknesses of Israeli
Democracy
Adam Garfinkle, Politics and Society in Modern Israel (New York: M.E.Sharpe,
1999):19--150.
David Goldberg and Bernard Reich, “State of Israel,” in David Long et al (eds.)
Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2011):
336-347.
Passover Break: April 22-29 (No Classes!)
Lecture 24 Israel - Ethnic Democracy? (Monday May 2)
Themes: Sources of contestation: the religious right, the Arab minority, the Russian
community, women, and the military; Whither Israeli Democracy?
Alan Dowty, The Jewish State: A Century Later (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1998): 143-215.
Robert Friedman (ed.) Israel’s First Fifty Years (Florida: University Press of Florida,
2000): 162-196.
Asher Cohen, “Changes in the Orthodox Camp and their Influence on the Deepening
Religious-Secular Schism at the Outset of the Twenty-First Century,” in Alan Dowty (ed.),
Critical Issues in Israeli Society (Ct: Praeger, 2004): 71-91.
Noya Rimalt, “From Law to Politics: The Path to Gender Equality,” Israel Studies
18:3(Fall 2013): 5-18.
Gershon Shafir and Yoav Peled, Being Israeli (New York, Cambridge University Press,
2002): 95-109
Zvi Guelman, “The Russian Revolution in Israel,” in Alan Dowty (ed.),
Critical Issues in Israeli Society (Ct: Praeger, 2004): 95-106.
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Yehuda Ben Meir, “Civil-Military Relations in Israel,” in Keith Kyle and Joel Peters
(eds.), Whither Israel? The Domestic Challenges (New York, IB Tauris, 1993): 223-234.
Stuart Cohen, “Israel and her Army,” in Stuart A. Cohen and Milton Shain (eds.),
Israel: Culture, Religion, and Society 1948-1998 (South Africa: Jewish Publications, 2000):7587.