2007 Handbooks

This unit will introduce students to the international politics of the Middle East, which includes patterns of interaction between the states of the region and also relations between the region and the world. Topics to be covered include the war against terrorism, the Arab-Israeli conflict; conflicts and interventions in the Persian Gulf; inter-Arab politics; and economic dependence and development in both their regional and international dimensions from the perspective of international relations.

The first part of the course will concentrate on epistemological and historical issues involved in the analysis of the Middle East as a regional system, and its place in the international system. The course will then move on to an investigation of globalisation and democratisation in the Middle East, the prevalence of rogue states in the region and ways of containing them and several of the endemic conflict situations that exist. The conflicts to be examined are the Israel-Palestine confrontation, the Iraq wars, and the war against terrorism. The course will also examine the impact of the 'New World Order' on the Middle East.