The course concentrates on the contemporary politics of the Arab world, Iran, Turkey and Israel, with some reference to Afghanistan. It examines the political development and dynamics of the major countries involved at national and regional levels. This is done in the context of four major variables - Islam, oil, the Arab-Israeli conflict and other regional disputes, and major power involvement - and the consequences of the interaction of these variables for the region in world politics.

This course aims to achieve the following specific learning outcomes :

1. Knowledge: The course participants will learn about the evolution of State and Society in the Middle East against the backdrop of Islam, oil, inter-state conflicts and major power intervention as the dominant variables.

2. Comprehension: Students will develop the ability to understand the relations between the dominant variables and assess their implications in a thematic fashion for the Middle East.

3. Analysis: Students will be able to analyse the political dynamics of a number of key Middle Eastern states as significant case studies, and judge for themselves why the Middle East region is, on the one hand, very significant and, on the other, volatile.

4. Argument: Students will develop an ability to advance arguments based on both historical and contemporary understanding of the Middle East from varying perspectives.

This course also aims to achieve the following generic learning outcomes:

a. Prioritising material: Students will learn how to manage a large amount of empirical material and order it in a comprehensible manner.

b. Synthesis: Students will be able to draw on the material presented in lectures and the readings to make connections and draw conclusions.

c. Critical thinking: Students will learn how to look at contested interpretations of history, culture, and politics and to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

d. Communication: Through tutorials and essays, students will learn how to present their ideas, both verbally and in writing, in a structured and clear way.

3,000 word essay (50%), two-hour examination or 2,000 word essay (40%) and tutorial assessment [based on attendance, reading, performance] (10%).

Two x 1 hr lectures and one x 1hr tutorial per week

Tutorials will start in the second week of the semester.

Students can expect to undertake 4-6 hours of reading and independent research per week outside of class time, in preparation for tutorials, submission of the major essay and the final exam.

Two first-year courses in Political Science, or with the permission of the lecturer

Mansfield, P., A Brief History of the Middle East (2nd ed), Penguin, 2003.

Saikal, A., The Rise and Fall of the Shah: Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Palmer, M., The Politics of the Middle East (2nd ed), California: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.

This course is considered compatible with Security Studies, Asian Politics and International Relations fields of study.