Political
Science 157
International
Politics of the
Spring 2008
| Associate Professor Gregory Gause | Office Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 12:30-2 PM |
| Office: 525 Old Mill | or by appointment |
| Telephone: x60571 | e-mail: gregory.gause@uvm.edu |
Purpose:
Why
did a group of Arabs, mostly from
Grading: Grades in this course will be computed as follows: a) 2 in-semester take-home essays (40%); b) a final essay (30%); and c) quizzes (30%). The questions for the take-home and final essays are appended to this syllabus. One of the in-semester essays, chosen from questions 1 through 7, must be submitted by February 26. The other, chosen from questions 8 through 13, must be submitted by April 17. The final essay is due on May 6 (the scheduled day for the final exam in the course). The schedule for the quizzes is in the syllabus, though I reserve the right to postpone quizzes if material needs to be covered for that quiz. I reserve the right to assign other writing assignments which will be calculated with the quiz grades for purposes of computing the final grade.
-Peter Mansfield and Nicolas Pelham, A History of the Middle East
-Peter L. Hahn, Crisis and Crossfire: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945
-Ian J. Bickerton and Carla L. Klausner, A Concise History of the Arab-IsraeliConflict (4th edition)
-Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay, America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy
We will also view
parts of the PBS special on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, The
50 Years War, during the course of the semester.
Other readings will be available on the Bailey-Howe Library reserve
reading website (http://voyager.uvm.edu).
At that website, select "Course Reserves."
Then select the course number (POLS 157) to access the readings.
You will be prompted for your username and password at some point in that
process. Your username is your
“zoo” alias (usually your first initial and last name).
Your password is your “zoo” password.
Direct links to all posted readings can be found on the this website.
From time to time I
will be unable to attend a regularly scheduled class, because of academic or
other obligations out of town. I
reserve the right to schedule make-up classes during reading period to cover any
material in the syllabus that was not completed during the semester.
Classroom
Protocol -- The Department of
Political Science requires that this classroom protocol, defining minimum
standards of conduct, be included in all syllabi of political science classes.
1.
Students are expected to attend and be prepared for ALL regularly
scheduled classes.
2.
Students are expected to arrive on time and stay in class until the class
period ends. If a students knows in
advance that s/he will need to leave early, s/he should notify the instructor
before the class period begins.
3.
Students are expected to treat faculty and fellow students with respect.
For example, students must not disrupt class by leaving and reentering
during class, must not distract class by making noise, and must be attentive to
comments being made by the instructors and by peers.
SCHEDULE
OF LECTURES,
January 15: Introduction to the Course. An Approach to the Study of Middle Eastern International Relations
January 17-29: The Modern Middle Eastern State System
(1908-1940)
Dime Store Tour of Islamic History/Breakdown of the Ottoman and Qajar
Empires/Western Colonial Policy/WWI and the International Agreements/Arab
Nationalism and Zionism/The Powers, the Mandates and "Independent" Regional
States
-Mansfield and Pelham, Chapters 1-9
-Bickerton and Klausner, Introduction, Chapters 1, 2
January 24: MAP QUIZ
January 31-February 7: World War II and the Creation of
Israel (1940-1949)
Reassertion of Imperial Control/US Entrance into the Region/The Cold War in
the Middle East/ The Palestine Climax
-Mansfield and Pelham, Chapter 10
-Bickerton and Klausner, Chapters 3, 4
-Hahn, Chapters 1, 2; and Documents 1, 2 and 3
-viewing of the first part of the PBS special The 50 Years War
February 7: QUIZ
February 12-14: Domestic Upheaval, Pan-Arabism and the
Cold War
Political Changes in the Arab World and Iran/US Defense Plans and Soviet
Reactions/The Suez War 1956/Nasser, Pan-Arabism, and the "Arab Cold War"
-Mansfield and Pelham, Chapter 11
-Bickerton and Klausner, Chapter 5
-Hahn, Chapter 3; and Document 4
-Mark Gasiorowski, "The CIA Looks Back at the 1953 Coup," Middle East Report, Fall 2000 (on Voyager reserve reading website -- http://voyager.uvm.edu)
-for the CIA documents on the 1953 coup obtained by the New York Times, go to http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/ 041600iran-cia-index.html. Skim them to get a flavor
February 19: The 1967 Arab-Israeli War
Why did Nasser escalate the conflict at this time?/Why did Israel, the U.S.
and the Soviets react the way they did?/Consequences of the War
-Bickerton and Klausner, Chapter 6
-Hahn, pp. 47-55; and Documents 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
-viewing of the second part of the PBS special The 50 Years War
February 26: FIRST ESSAY DUE
February 21-26: Arab-Israeli War and Peace in the 1970's
PLO and the 1970 Jordanian Civil War/1973 War/Strategic, Domestic and
Economic Factors behind Camp David
-Bickerton and Klausner, Chapters 7, 8
-Hahn, pp. 57-67; and Documents 11, 12, 13, 14
-viewing of the third part of the PBS special The 50 Years War
February 28: QUIZ
February 28-March 20: Oil, the Gulf, the Iranian
Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War
Background of the World Oil Market/The Strategic Picture in the Gulf after
the British Withdrawal in 1971/The Oil Explosions of 1973 and 1979/The Iranian
Revolution and its Regional Consequences/The Iran-Iraq War
-Mansfield and Pelham, Chapter 12
-F. Gregory Gause, III, "Gulf Regional Politics," in W. Howard Wriggins (ed.), Dynamics of Regional Politics, Columbia University Press, 1992 (on Voyager reserve reading website -- http://voyager.uvm.edu)
-Hahn, Chapter 5; Document 5
March 25-27: The Failure of the Likud Strategy in the
1980’s
Likud and the Occupied Territories/The 1982 Lebanon War/The Intifada in
Palestinian and Israeli Politics/US Policy Post-Camp David, Pre-Gulf War
-Bickerton and Klausner, Chapter 9
-Hahn, pp. 87-91
-viewing of fourth part of the PBS special The 50 Years War
April 1: QUIZ
April 1-3: The Gulf War, 1990-91
Causes and Consequences/The Gulf after the War
-Hahn, pp. 105-120; and Documents 18, 19
-Zachary Karabell, "Backfire: US Policy toward Iraq, 1988-2 August 1990," Middle East Journal, Winter 1995 (on Voyager reserve reading website -- http://voyager.uvm.edu)
-Gregory Gause, "Iraq's Decisions to Go to War, 1980 and 1990," Middle East Journal, Winter 2002 (on Voyager reserve reading website -- http://voyager.uvm.edu)
-National Security Directive 54, ordering the U.S. attack on Iraq, available from the National Security Archive: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB21/06-01.htm
April 8-10: The Peace Process, 1991-2001:
Breakthrough to Breakdown
The Madrid Framework/Israeli and Palestinian Motivations Behind the Oslo
Agreement/Jordanian-Israeli Peace/The Syrian Track/Camp David II and Breakdown
-Bickerton and Klausner, Chapters 10, 11, 12, Conclusion
-Hahn, pp. 91-104; and Documents 15, 16, 17
-Hussein Agha and Robert Malley, “Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors,” New York Review of Books, August 9, 2001 – available at: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14380
-“Setting the Record Straight,” Interview with Dennis Ross, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, August 8, 2001 – available at: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2031
-“Inside the Mideast Peace Plan,” (on Voyager reserve reading website -- http://voyager.uvm.edu)
-viewing of the fifth part of the PBS special The 50 Years War
April 15: QUIZ
April 17: SECOND ESSAY DUE
April 15-17: September 11 and the American War on
Terror
The Origins of “Bin Ladenism”/Afghanistan War/Saudi-American Relations
-Michael Scott Doran, “Somebody Else’s Civil War,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2002 – available at: (http://evatt.labor.net.au/publications/papers/76.html)
-Daalder and Lindsay, Chapters 6-8
-National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (9-11 Commission), Final Report, Chapter 2 (http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch2.pdf), Chapter 10 (http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch10.pdf)
April 22-24: The Iraq War and the Future of the Middle
East
The Iraq War and its Aftermath/Democracy Promotion in the Region/Review of
Current Regional Situation
-Daalder and Lindsay, Chapters 9-12
-Mansfield and Pelham, Chapter 13
-Hahn, pp. 120-135; and Document 20
-Richard Haass, “The New Middle East,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2006, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20061101faessay85601-p0/richard-n-haass/the-new-middle-east.html
-Ze’ev Schiff, “Israel’s War with Iran,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2006, (on Voyager reserve reading website -- http://voyager.uvm.edu)
-Series of 4 National Public Radio reports on the effects of the surge strategy in Iraq, January 7-10, 2008 (be sure to access all four stories), http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17857251
April 29: Tying Up Loose Ends/Review/Final Essay
May 6: FINAL ESSAY DUE
1. What were
the major effects of the collapse of the
2. Why did
3. Compare and contrast the origins of the Zionist movement and the Arab nationalist movement(s) in the latter part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Be sure to discuss the two movements’ ideological reactions to European power and political ideas and how they dealt with the relationship between religion and politics.
4. Why were the Israelis able to win the civil war in Mandatory Palestine and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-49?
5. Trace the
process by which the
6. Why did the Nasserist Arab unity program of the 1950's and 1960's fail?
7. Why did
8. How did the
oil shock of 1973 change international politics in the
9. Why did Egypt and Israel sign a peace treaty in 1979? Why did other Arab parties not join the treaty?
10. How, if at
all, did the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the Islamic resurgence in regional
politics affect international politics in the
11. Compare the Iraqi war decisions of 1980 and 1990. What is similar about them, what is different, and why?
12. What changes in the region and the world led to the PLO-Israeli and Jordanian-Israeli agreements of 1993-94?
13. Why did the peace process on both the Syrian and the Palestinian tracks collapse in 2000?
Final Essay
-- All students must choose one of the following two questions and submit their
essay on (or before) May 6. This
essay is not to exceed ten (10) pages. It
must be double-spaced typed, with one-inch margins at the top, bottom and sides
of the pages. Length limits will be
strictly observed. Do not
exceed them. If you choose the first essay, be sure to integrate material from
the entire course in your answer, and to provide concrete historical and/or
current examples to support your argument. If
you choose the second or third essay, be sure to do sufficient research to write
a good answer.
1.
Why have there been so many wars and other kinds of inter-state conflict
in the Middle East since 1945? In your answer, be sure to discuss
Arab-Israeli, inter-Arab and Persian Gulf events during this time period.
Also, be sure to discuss how transnational identities such as Arab nationalism,
Islam and other, more limited identities that cross borders affect the level of
conflict.
2.
Is the Iraq War a major departure in American policy toward the
3.
Prepare a briefing paper for President Bush on
| Washington Post Middle East Page |
| New York Times Middle East Page |
| Al-Jazeera's English website -- the English web location of the famous (infamous?) Arabic language, 24-hour satellite news channel |
| The CIA's World Factbook -- thumbnail information on every country in the world |
| Islamic Studies Pathway -- A selection of links regarding Islam, not just about politics, put together by Dr. Gary Blunt of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the University of Wales |
| Department of State Human Rights Report -- annual report on human rights and other political conditions in every country in the world |
| Department of State Middle East page -- for the official U.S. view of things, plus statements by U.S. officials |
| Government of Israel -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- both background information and up-to-date news and policy statements |
| University of Texas Middle East Center -- an excellent gateway to information sources about individual countries and topics on the Middle East |
| The Gulf 2000 Project -- An internet-based research project at Columbia University that focuses on the eight countries of the Persian/Arabian Gulf area (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman). Excellent links for each country. |
| Haaretz newspaper -- English language edition -- the leading Israeli newspaper, which covers the peace process as well as anybody |
| Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Relations (PASSIA) -- a private Palestinian think-tank in Jerusalem, with some very good maps on the Jerusalem issue. This link takes you to their Jerusalem page, from which you can link to the maps. |
| Palestinian National Authority -- the official web page of Yasir Arafat's government. Up-to-date official Palestinian statements on the peace process can be found here. |
| The International Crisis Group's Middle East page -- an excellent private research group that covers world crises, with material on Iraq, Iran, the Arab-Israeli situation and much more on the Middle East |
| Foundation for Middle East Peace -- an American organization that promotes a relatively pro-Palestinian line on Arab-Israeli questions, with good maps and information on Israeli settlement activity |
| Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Democracy and Rule of Law Project -- some excellent work on the issue of democracy and reform in the Arab world |
| Washington Institute for Near East Policy -- the top Washington think-tank on Middle East issues, pro-Israeli reputation, very influential in policy circles with high quality publications |
| Kurdistan Regional Government -- the official website of the Iraqi Kurdish regional government |