Summary Readings Politics of the Middle East
BAIS 2019-2020
10 Sep: 1. Crash course Middle East 1914-2014
- Peter Sluglett, “The Cold War in the Middle East”, in: Louise Fawcett (ed.), International
Relations of the Middle East (Oxford University Press 2016, 4th edition) Ch. 3, pp. 62-78.
- Bahgat Korany, “The Middle East since the Cold War: The Multi-Layered (In)security
Dilemma”, in: Fawcett, International Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 4, pp. 79-101.
17 Sep: 2. Israel-Palestine
- Charles Smith, “The Arab-Israeli Conflict”, in: Fawcett, International Relations of the Middle
East, Ch. 12, pp. 259-284.
- Avi Shlaim, “The Rise and Fall of the Oslo Peace Process”, in: Fawcett, International
Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 13, pp. 285-303.
- V Tilley, ‘From “Jewish state and Arab state” to “Israel and Palestine”? International norms,
ethnocracy, and the two-state solution’, The Arab World Geographer, 2005
24 Sep: 3. Emergence of political Islam
- Peter Mandaville, “Islam and International Relations in the Middle East: From Umma to Nation
State” in: Fawcett, International Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 8, pp. 176-195.
- GE Fuller, ‘The future of political Islam’ in Foreign Affairs, 81:2 (2002)
1 Oct: 4. Sharia and an Islamic state
- M.S. Berger, ‘Sharia and the Nation State’, in: Peters Rudolph, Bearman Peri (Eds.) The
Ashgate Research Companion to Islamic Law, 2014, pp. 223-234 (See under ‘Documents’
for pdf)
08 Oct: 5. Islam and democracy
- Augustus Richard Norton, “The Puzzle of Political Reform in the Middle East”, in: Fawcett,
International Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 6, pp. 131-154.
- GC Gambill, ‘Explaining the Arab Democracy Deficit: Part I’ Middle East Intelligence Bulletin,
2003 (Vol.5, No.2) https://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0302_me.htm
- ‘Explaining the Arab Democracy Deficit, Part II: American Policy’, Middle East Intelligence
Bulletin, 2003 (Vol.5, No.8-9), available at
http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0308_me1.htm
15 Oct: 6. International politics
- Raymond Hinnebusch and Anoushiravan, “Foreign Policymaking in the Middle East: Complex
Realism”, in: Fawcett, International Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 11, pp. 239-258.
- Matteo Legrenzi and F. Gregory Gause III, “The International Politics of the Gulf”, in: Fawcett,
International Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 14, pp. 304-323.
29 Oct: 7. Minorities and Gender
- The Arab Human Development Report 2005: Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab World,
UNDP, 2005 (pp.5-26)
- Nader Hashemi & Danny Postel (2017) “Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the
Middle East”, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 15:3, 1-13
5 Nov: 8. Perceptions: “Why do they hate us?”
- Michael C. Hudson, “The United States in the Middle East”, in: Fawcett, International
Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 16, pp. 356-379.
- Rosemay Hollis, “Europe in the Middle East”, in: Fawcett, International Relations of the Middle
East, Ch. 17, pp. 380-397.
- Pew Global attitudes Project, ‘The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims view each
other’, 22 June 2006 (only web text).
- US Council on Foreign Relations, ‘A New Beginning: Strategies for a More Fruitful Dialogue
with the Muslim World, May 2005 (1-10)
12 Nov: 9. Terrorism and Resistance
- Olivier Roy, “Jihad and Terrorism: The Pursuit of Death”, in: Jihad and Death: The Global
Appeal of Islamic State (2017), Ch. 1, pp. 1-18.
- K Dalacoura, ‘Islamist terrorism and the Middle East democratic deficit: Political exclusion,
repression and the causes of extremism,’ Democratization, 2006
19 Nov: 10. The Arab Spring
- Larbi Sadiki, “The Arab Spring: The ‘People’ in International Relations”, in: Fawcett,
International Relations of the Middle East, Ch. 15, pp. 324-355.
- L Anderson, ‘Demystifying the Arab spring’, Foreign Affairs, 2011
26 Nov: 11. Aftermath – or Prelude?
, - International Crisis Group (ICG), Averting the Middle East’s 1914 Moment, Middle East
Report N°205, 1 August 2019
3 Dec: 12. The future
- PEW report The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society, 2015 (Chapters 2, 3, 4, and
check for ME countries)
Week 1
CH3: Peter Sluglett – The Cold War in the Middle East
Immediate origins of the Cold War A disagreement exists on whether or not the effects of
the Cold War on the Middle East are that deep, lasting,
and/or traumatic.
- Less casualties than Asia
- Effect on oil > thus on rest of the world
- Superpower rivalry (US-USSR) was taken
advantage of by some ME countries to benefit
themselves
Areas of concern within the struggle of control in the ME:
- Desires of superpowers to gain strategic
advantage in the region (because UK/France
left)
- The region contained some 2/3 of the world’s oil
reserves and this resource became increasingly
important to the Western world
- The CW represented an ideological conflict
between two very different political, social, and
economic systems
Truman Doctrine (promised American assistance to
Greece and Turkey) was announced because of:
- Armed leftist movement with powerful external
support (Iran/Greece)
- Imminent prospect of British withdrawal
- Parallel developments in Turkey
The Doctrine aimed to:
- Provide a way of life free from coercion (e.g.
Germany/Japan) because it undermines the
foundations of international peace and thus
security of the US
- Assist free peoples to work out their own
destinies in their own way
The abduction of Reza Shah resulted in more political
freedom
- Free press (relatively)
- Formation of labor unions / professional
associations
- Tudeh party (communists) benefitted too
Allied Declaration regarding Iran
- Guaranteed Iran’s future sovereignty and
territorial integrity
- But: after two years, Azeris and Kurds wanted
their own territorial sovereignty (at variance with
declaration) – eventually declared too
Soviets left (their objectives remain unclear) in Nov 1946
and therewith their leverage in Azerbaijan and Kurdistan
was eliminated. A month later the two sovereign
territories were abruptly dismissed. But, nature and
extent of Stalin’s ambitions:
- Oil concessions in areas around the Caspian
Sea (Anglo-Iranian Oil Comp?)
- Wanted a friendly government on other side of
border
, - Annex north-western Iran
On one hand, USSR wanted to take whatever fairly
limited measures it could to assure the safety of its
frontiers
On the other hand, US found itself equally obliged to
defend ‘free peoples’ wherever it judged that their
freedom was being threatened
Oil in the Middle East Iran was the first country to export oil (1913) and in the
course of WWII the demand for oil had risen drastically –
therefore oil became a strategic factor in the region and
the US started gaining control of oil companies
What became clear is that no matter the leadership
(extreme, reactionary, or amoral) the oil exports were
always directed towards the same markets
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly the role oil played during
the CW
A clash of ideologies Role of USSR was vital in the Allies defeating the Axis
Ideology played an important role in defining the nature
of the competition between the two powers for the hearts
and minds of ME regimes and people
Most MENA territories were still under British, French, or
Italian rule and those not under direct control were
subjected to economic or other kinds of pressure by
European powers (e.g. Iran: never colonized yet fought
over by UK/USSR for strategic/economic reasons)
The US was opposed to UK over Palestine and Iranian
oil
There were two ‘visions’ of modernity/the world:
- US: a disinterested senior partner that could
offer assistance, in terms of both goods and
‘advice’ to young nations struggling to become
members of the free world that was emerging
after the devastation of WWII
- USSR: an egalitarian society in which class
divisions had been or were being abolished and
in which a benevolent state would look after the
interests of its citizens from begin to and
As the CW unfolded, the role of ideology and relative
appeal of the USSR and the West changed quite
dramatically
- The two powers took some time to define their
respective roles
o USSR:
Period of relative isolation (goal:
internal reconstruction of Soviet
state)
It became clear that ‘crisis of
capitalism’ was mere wishful
thinking of the Kremlin and had
very little foundation
1955: created Warsaw Pact
o US:
Organizing defense of the ‘Free
World’ (NATO/Baghdad Pact)
Remarkable was the agility with which the various ME
states acquired the ability to play one superpower off
against another (e.g. Aswan Dam finance)
, Elements of a case study: Iraq, The 1934: founding of Iraqi communist party which was a
Soviet Union, and The United States major beneficiary of the relaxation of the political climate
(1945-90) in Iraq in 1944 – freedom brought to an end by enforced
resignation of Tawfiq al-Suwaydi’s ministry
Baghdad pact was essentially an eastward extension of
NATO (attempt to create anti-Soviet alliance of states)
Doctrine of positive neutralism: formed by Nasser,
Sukarno, and Tito at the Bandung Conference (this was
neither west nor east)
1955 main aspirations of Iraqi opposition:
- Make Iraq truly independent of Britain
- Set up a local government
- Anti-British and anti-American sentiment
Arab nationalist groupings in Iraq wanted post-
revolutionary Iraq to join Syria and Egypt in the United
Arab Republic (UAR)
The military regimes that seized power in the ME in
1950s/60s were nationalist, anti-imperialist and sought
and achieved independence for their countries
Limitations on Soviet power:
- Ties to the West which they didn’t want to
endanger
Iraqi public rhetoric in this period (until 1970s) was:
- Anti-American (=imperialist)
- Anti-Zionist
- Pro-Soviet (however since 1978 under extreme
strain, they turned anti-communist)
Major facet which kept Saddam in power for so long was
the nationalization of oil from which the money went
directly into his own pockets
When Khomeini banned the Tudeh party (communist)
and cancelled some agreements with the USSR, the
Soviets turned back to Iraq for the rest of the duration of
the CW
- So: USSR spent final years of war on the same
side as US in Iran-Iraq war
Conclusion What did the communist actually advocate / did achieve?
Things that were on the agenda of Western European
nations too:
- Creation of trade unions
- Fundamentals of compensated land reform (!!!
not on EU agenda)
- Nationalization of leading industries (e.g. oil)
- Free health and welfare programs
CH4: Bahgat Korany – The Middle East since the Cold War
Overview Continuity as well as change characterizes regional
security (e.g. Arab Spring)
Introduction 1964: first Arab Summit summoned by Nasser which
goals were:
- Contain Arab CW between the
revolutionary/socialist camp (Egypt) and the
conservative/reactionary camp (KSA)
- Arab national security > contain Arab
fragmentation in order to mobilize Arab forces
against collective, main enemy: Israel
2015: 26th summit which goals were
- Contain Iranian threat undermining Arab regimes
and pushing for a Shia crescent
- Increasingly mobilized to Arabize/Islamize Saudi
