MAAS-572 State, Power, and Politics in the Arab World

Faculty:

Jebnoun, Noureddine

NOTE: This is a Content-Based Instruction (CBI) course, designed to give advanced Arabic students the opportunity to acquire strong language skills within their fields of study, such as political science and economics, among others.

This course covers domestic politics in the contemporary Arab world. It analyzes Arab political regimes and the relationships among state authority, religion, civil society, democracy, and the military, focusing on dynamism and permanence as factors in the construction and continuation of the state. It also examines the interaction of socio-political, religious, and cultural dynamics of a number of major regional states. Finally, the course concludes with the consideration of two important regional issues: the diagnostic for and barriers to democratization in the Arab world and the expectations of political transition.
Course topics include: the rise and decline of Arab authoritarian populism; the rivalry between nationalist and religious ideologies and political movements; the political impact of oil wealth (rentier state) and political Islam; the political impact of economic crises; the weaknesses and the strengths of civil society and its role in emergent processes of democratization; ethnic and religious divisions; the role of regional and international actors in shaping the national politics of these countries and in state-society relations in the Arab world.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: None

Other academic years
There is information about this course number in other academic years:

• 2011-2012 Fall and Spring

More information
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