课程大纲：

Professor Jonathan Adelman 1
Summer School Course
June 24-July 5, 2013
Undergraduate College
University of International Relations
Beijing, PRC

CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: ORIGINS, TRENDS, AND LIKELY OUTCOMES

This course deals with the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, a vital area of great oil and gas wealth, ancient civilizations and geography connecting Africa, Europe and Asia. There will be several short movies, questions to be discussed each class and a final examination on the last day of class.

I.INTRODUCTION: BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST HISTORY (June 24)

This session will provide a brief review of Middle East history, which saw the beginning of the three great Western religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) and the antecedents of modern Western civilization, usually called Judeo-Christian civilization. It will look quickly at such powerful civilizations as the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Assyrian and Jewish.

Suggested But Not Required Reading: “The Evolution of Middle East Civilizations,” Encyclopedia Britannica

II. TRANSITION TO MODERN POST-WORLD WAR II MIDDLE EAST: THE ERA OF OTTOMAN TURKISH AND WESTERN COLONIALISM (June 25)

The current crisis derives significantly from the late Ottoman era and era of Turkish and Western imperialism in the region. This section will look at the end of Ottoman Turkey and the era of Western colonialism in the Middle East.

Reading: David Fromkin, From Peace to Peace (New York: Avon Books, 1989), pp.14-32.

III: SIGNIFICANT ACTORS IN THE REGION (June 26)

In this section, we will focus on five major actors in the region: Israel, Iran, Egypt, the Gulf states and Turkey. We will provide a brief overview of their development in order to place them properly in the analysis that follows.

Reading: Jonathan Adelman, The Rise of Israel: A History of a Revolutionary State (London: Routledge, 2008), chapter 1, pp.3-14


IV. CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST (June 27) 2

In this section we will deal with the major crises in the region: the Iranian drive for nuclear weapons, the Syrian civil war, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, international terrorism and failure to make the revolutionary transformation to modernity.

Reading: Bernard Lewis, “What Went Wrong?,” Atlantic Monthly, January 2002.

V. WARS IN THE MIDDLE EAST (July 1)

This section will look at contemporary wars in the Middle East, their causes and outcomes. The focus will be on past wars (Arab-Israeli wars, Iran-Iraq War, Persian Gulf Wars I and II), current wars (Syrian civil war) and possible future wars . These wars have had a substantial impact on the region and presage more wars in the region.

Reading: “List of Modern Conflicts in the Middle East” (Wikipedia)

VI. POLITICAL CONFLICTS IN THE REGION (July 2)

The region is riven with conflicts: Arabs versus Israelis, Sunnis versus Shiites, secularists versus Islamic fundamentalists, monarchies versus nascent democratic states. We also will look in some depth at the Arab Spring, its impact on Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia) and likely future developments

Reading: Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Modern King in the Arab Spring,” Atlantic Monthly, April 2013
or Sharif Nashishibi, “The Arab Spring 2013: The Revolutionary Wave Enters a Third Year,” Al Arabiya


VII. ECONOMIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST: NOW AND IN THE FUTURE (July 3)

The region is divided sharply between the relatively modern states without strong economies and no oil (especially Turkey and Israel), the oil rich monarchies (Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states (such as United Arab Emirates) and poor lesser developed states without oil and gas (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, Gaza, etc.) We will also contrast the Middle Eastern states with emerging states throughout the world.

Readings: World Bank, 2013 Middle East and North Africa Outlook(Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2013)


VIII. FUTURE AND FINAL EXAMINATION (July 4)

The first hour will look at the critical issues in the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. The last two hours will be a final examination administered to the class.