(G.E. area D2)
A comparative examination of socio-economic structures of the Middle East and
Latin America in the framework of global economy.
The course will analyze the historical context of integration of these two regions in the international economic system and the local reactions to the impacts of global forces on national structures.
Instructor: Manzar Foroohar
Office Hours: M & W: 2:10-4:00 p.m.
Building 47, Room 25B
756-2068/756-2543 mforooha@calpoly.edu
Required Readings:
Stephen Schlesinger & Stephen Kinzer, Bitter Fruit
History 214 Supplemental Reading (on Blackboard)
Course Requirements:
Each student will be required to write two essay exams (short essays, in class).
Each exam will count for 30% of the grade. Two more tests (true/false questions) will each count for 20% of the final grade.
Instructor’s Policies
No make-up tests or "incomplete" will be given except for compelling and documented reasons (serious illness, permanent job interview, family emergency).
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Students are expected to participate in class discussions and will be penalized for failure to attend the class.
Academic Dishonesty
The Campus Administrative Manual (CAM, Section 684) states: "The University will not condone academic cheating or plagiarism in any form." Cheating and plagiarizing are serious offences and will be dealt with accordingly. Consequences include, but are not limited to, receiving an F in the course and being reported to
Judicial Affairs."

This is an introduction to the transition from Feudalism to
Commercial Capitalism in Europe, characteristics of
Commercial Capitalism and the process of formation of nation-states as a resolution to the contradictions between expanding commercial system and scattered independent political entities of medieval Europe.
READINGS: L. S. Stavrianos, Global Rift, The Third World Comes of Age. New
York: William Morrow and Company, INC. 1981, Ch. 2. (SR, Part 1)
A discussion of different levels of civilization and socio-economic and political organizations among indigenous Latin American populations before the arrival of
Europeans.
READINGS: E. Bradford Burns, Latin America, A Concise Interpretive History,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: prentice Hall, 5 th edition, 1990, pp. 1-12 (SL, Part 2)
Benjamin Keen, Latin American Civilization, History and Society 1492 to the
Present. Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1986, pp. 8-26. (SL, Part 2)
The impacts of the arrival of the Europeans, such as demographic disaster (as a result of European diseases), land transfer (different notions of land use among the indigenous and the Europeans), destruction of native social, political and economic structures.
READINGS: E. Bradford Burns, Latin America, A Concise Interpretive History,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: prentice Hall, 5 th edition, 1990, pp. 13-26. (SR, Part
3)
Benjamin Keen, Latin American Civilization, pp. 111-127. (SR, Part 3)

A discussion of Islamic civilization, culture and socioeconomic structures of the Middle East before the arrival of the Europeans.
READINGS: Edward Mortimer, Faith and Power, The Politics of Islam, New
York: Vintage Books, 1982, Ch. 1. (SR, Part 4)
William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, Boulder and New
York: Westview Press, 1999, pp. 22-26. (SR, Part 4)
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, New York: St. Martin
Press, 1988, pp. 1-10. (SR, Part 4)
The impacts of the arrival of European merchants on Middle
Eastern civilizations, their contact with native merchants, competition and confrontation, and the reasons for failure of Europeans to integrate Middle Eastern economies into their commercial system. The peripheral role of the Middle
East in European economy will be compared and contrasted with integration of Latin America in European world.
READINGS: Charles Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, pp. 10-15.
(SR, Part 5)
William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, pp. 51-53. (SR, Part 5)
Industrial revolution, its causes, characteristics, and needs will be discussed.
READINGS: L. S. Stavrianos, Global Rift, The Third World Comes of Age, pp. 169-
176; 256-263; 274-277. (SR, Part 6)

A discussion of the Movements for Independence in Latin
America in the early 19th century. The elitist leadership, and the social and economic goals of these movements will be analyzed.
READINGS: E. Bradford Burns, Latin America, A Concise Interpretive History,
Ch. 3. (SR, Part 7)
L. S. Stavrianos, Global Rift, The Third World Comes of Age, Ch. 9. (SR, Part 7)
A discussion of political and economic power of Europe in the Middle East in the 19th century. Capitulation treaties
(i.e., British-Ottoman Treaty of 1838) and their impacts on
Middle Eastern economies will be analyzed.
READINGS: Joe Stork, Middle East Oil and the Energy Crisis, New York: Monthly
Review Press, pp. 5-28. (SR, Part 8)
Glenn E. Perry, The Middle East, Fourteen Islamic Centuries, pp. 147-159. (SR,
Part 8)
Charles Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Ch. 2. (SR, Part 8)
William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, pp. 212-228. (SR, Part
8)
A discussion of different experiments in Latin America to change the structure of dependency. A large spectrum of economic nationalism, from Agrarian Reform in Guatemala under President Arbenz to Socialism in Cuba under President
Castro and mix economy in Sandinista Nicaragua will be discussed. Successes and failures of each attempt will be analyzed in the context of local economies and new theoretical frameworks.
READINGS: Bitter Fruit.
Victor Bulmer-Thomas, The political Economy of Central
America Since 1920, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1987-88, pp. 1-24. (SR: Part 9)
Benjamin Keen, Latin American Civilizations, pp. 404-413 &
361-383. (SR, Part 9)

A discussion of different experiments in the Middle East to change the structure of dependency. The economic roots of the political conflict in the region will be analyzed.
Middle Eastern experiments will be compared and contrasted with Latin American examples and necessity of using local socio-economic and historical contexts in adjusting general theories and systems will be demonstrated.
READINGS: Glenn E. Perry, The Middle East, Fourteen Islamic Centuries,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 179-183; 205-212; 221-225; 241-
250 (SR, Part 10).
Roger Owen and Sevket Pamuk, A History of Middle East Economies in the
Twentieth Century, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1999, pp. 194-197 (SR, Part 10).
William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, pp. 483-500. (SR, Part
10)
Patrick Seal, “A Costly Friendship,” The Nation, July
21/28, 2003. (SR, Part 10)
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby.” (SR,
Part 10) http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-
011