UNIVERSITEIT van AMSTERDAM

(Open UvA course)

“The Middle East: History, Politics and Economy”

(elective, 6 EC, Module, 121217036Y, Semester 1, 2022-23 Block 1)

Dr. Farid Boussaid

Office (RECB9.16) hours by appointment f.boussaid@uva.nl

Dr. Mariwan Kanie

Office (PCH 204) hours by appointment m.kanie@uva.nl

Dr. Gertjan Hoetjes g.j.hoetjes@uva.nl

Office (BSH E0.14A) hours by appointment

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COURSE OUTLINE

Thematic Focus
2 (12/9) Charting the Terrain: Course Overview and state formation in the Middle East

3 (19/9) The long 19th century

4 (26/9) Economic history and politics

5 (03/10) The role of ideology, pan Arabism and Islamism

6 (10/10) Minorities and nationalism in the Middle East

7 (17/10) The Arab Spring and the resilience of authoritarianism

8 (24/10) Final exam

COURSE LITERATURE: One course text should be purchased and integral use will be
made of it: James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East (fifth edition), 2020 (Oxford University
Press). The book is available at Atheneum bookstore.

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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Course Weight: 6 ECTS credits
Prerequisite: 60 EC, or a positive BSA.

This course is the opening course to the Minor Middle Eastern studies and Minor Midden-
Oostenstudies. Enrolment in other courses of the minor is in most cases restricted to students
who have successfully completed this course.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Successful completion of this course should enable you to:

1. Have acquired knowledge of the modern history of the Middle East

2. Be able to critically examine how political and economic forces affect the Middle East
3. Be able to distinguish between general trends affecting the region as a whole as well as
the important differences between countries within the region
4. Be able to use both social science perspectives and historical backgrounds to formulate
an argument regarding the challenges faced by the countries in the region

COURSE CONTENT:
The importance of understanding the Middle East has grown since the recent turmoil affecting
this region. This interdisciplinary course provides an overview of the most important issues
facing the region. The course is organized thematically in an attempt to provide both historical,
theoretical as well as comparative depth to the study of the region. In the course of six weeks,
we will increase our understanding of this region on the basis of a variety of topics. These
topics include 1) the modern (political) history of the region, as well as the history of Middle
Eastern studies, 2) development trajectories and the role of oil, 3) the role of ideology and
religion, 4) ethnicity and sectarianism, 5) the Arab Spring and its aftermath.

The course consists of six weekly lectures. The lectures are accompanied by six seminar
meetings. There are two distinct series of seminar meetings, each with its own readings:

Seminar series A) offers the necessary social science skills in Middle Eastern studies, which
is ideal for students with a Humanities background.

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Seminar series B) offers a Humanities introduction to Middle Eastern studies, which is ideal
for students with a Social Science background.

Please make sure you sign up for the seminar series that suits your needs.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND COMMUNICATION:

This course has a Canvas site. Announcements and communication will take place through
Canvas. General information (e.g. assignments) and some course readings will be available on
the site. Written assignments must be handed in via Canvas.

COURSE FORMAT AND METHODS:

We will meet for two 2-hour sessions each week. The first is a lecture session and the second
a seminar session. Your preparation, research, contribution and reflection are essential for your
success in this course, for the quality of our interaction and, ultimately, the learning of the
whole group. Each seminar session and discussion will start from your own
questions/comments as well as your responses to our guiding questions, which will be posted
on Canvas 24 hours before each seminar meeting. All the students are requested to read and
critically engage with both the general readings from Gelvin’s book AND the articles/chapters
for each specific seminar group before each session.

LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION AND ASSIGNMENTS: English.

WORKLOAD AND PLANNING: The block system compresses the time available for
teaching and reflection on the subject matter by students. There is a substantial amount of
readings to be done before each session. You are requested to plan and prepare for the
pressure early. Some of you will have better background for the course than others, and you
need to assure yourself that you are ‘up to speed’ and ‘getting it’ as the course progresses. Pace
yourself, plan, and go for it! Above all, use us, as a resource. Talk it over during office hours
if you are struggling with the material. We want you to do well!

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ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

Percentage of
Learning goal Assessment Final Grade Time/Deadline
Active and engaged Contributions1 to class 30% Weeks 2-7
understanding of major discussions/ exercises
themes in Middle East studies
Rigorous analysis of issues Final exam 70% End of week 8
raised during the course

Contribution (30% of total grade): Four things on your end are essential for your success in
this course, for the quality of our interaction and, ultimately, the learning of the whole group
(and indirectly you again!): preparation, research, contribution and reflection.

1. You are requested to upload a 350-500 words comment on Canvas (under the section
“Discussions”), which should draw on the session’s requested readings and materials.
You are allowed to miss one assignment of the total six sessions.
2. You should come to each class having read and critically reflected upon all required
readings. Mere skimming won’t serve either you or the class. Instead, read actively,
take notes, challenge the authors’ assumptions, argumentation, method or evidence, and
draw implications.
3. In addition, lively, systematic, and rigorous research for each assignment and ideally
each class are not only key to your mastering of this course but also very useful for your
future academic progress and future work.
4. Your contributions to seminar discussions will then be active, informed and meaningful
contributions – as they should be. Mere attendance won’t count.

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Note that we deliberately use the word ‘contribution’ rather than ‘participation’ to underscore that you need to
add value to the discussion rather than just take part in it.

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Final written exam (70% of total grade): It will be also take-home questions and will build
on the assigned readings and seminar discussions. Students will have to answer 3 main
questions (1000 words max. for each question). The deadline is Friday 28th October at 6pm.
The questions will be made available on Canvas a week before the deadline. Exams handed in
24 hours later will be penalized with a full point subtraction. Anything handed in after 24 hours
will not be graded.

The final grade is a weighted average of the grades for the individual assessment methods. In
case the average is below 5,5 a resit is possible. The grades will be published at a maximum of
15 working days after the deadline.

Resit. It will also be a take-home exam. It counts for 100%. Those who did not hand in anything
during the first exam will not be awarded a grade higher than 7.

For further reference to regulations, see ‘Onderwijs en Examenregeling’ (OER):

http://student.uva.nl/az/content2/onderwijs-en-examenregelingen-
bacheloropleidingen/onderwijs-en-examenregelingen-bacheloropleidingen.html

PLAGIARISM
For all written assignments, a “Turnitin” assignment is made on Canvas. Turnitin is a tool
that can detect work that is copied. All suspected cases of fraud and/or plagiarism will be
reported to the Examinations Board. This course uses the “Regulations Governing Fraud
and Plagiarism for UvA Students.” For further information, see
http://student.uva.nl/en/az/content/plagiarism-and- fraud/plagiarism-and-fraud.html .

ATTENDANCE
Please attend all lectures and seminar sessions. If you are absent for more than one seminar
session without a valid excuse, you will be excluded from the course and therefore will not
receive a grade for the course. Students are responsible for demonstrating that they have a
valid excuses should they miss a seminar; we will apply the rule automatically unless proof is

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provided. We will not repeat class material/discussions to those who do not turn up. We do
urge students though to self-quarantine in case of a positive Covid self-test or having been in
the proximity of a Covid infected person for an extended period of time.

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WEEKLY OUTLINE AND REQUIRED READINGS

Week 2 Charting the Terrain: Course Overview and state formation in the Middle East

General readings:
 James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, Chapters 1 and 2.

Seminar Humanities students:

 Lockman, Zachary (2009). Introduction and Chapter 2 “Islam, the West and the
Rest,” In Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of
Orientalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511804342.003
 Harik, I. (2006). Democracy, ‘Arab Exceptionalism,’ and Social Science. The Middle
East Journal, 60(4), 664–684. https://doi.org/10.3751/60.4.12

Seminar Social Science students:

 Said, Edward. "Orientalism reconsidered." Cultural Critique, no. 1 (Autumn, 1985): 89-
107.
 Lewis, Bernard. "What Went Wrong?" The Atlantic Monthly (January 2002).
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2002/01/lewis.htm
 Sabra, Adam. "What Is Wrong with What Went Wrong?" Middle East Report (August
2003). http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/what-wrong-what-went-wrong
 Eric, Davis (2009), “10 Conceptual Sins,”. http://new-middle-
east.blogspot.nl/2009/01/10-conceptual-sins-in-analyzing-middle.html

Week 3 The long 19th century

General readings:
 James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, Chapters 3 and 4.

Seminar Humanities students:

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  Abu-Lughod, J. (1987). The Shape of the World system in the Thirteenth Century.
Studies in Comparative International Development, 22(4), 3–25.
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02717367
 Lockman, Z. (2009). "Orientalism and Empire." Chapter 3. In Contending
Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 66-99. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511804342.006
 James Onley (2005), “Britain’s Informal Empire in the Gulf 1820-1971,” Journal
of Social Affairs, 22 (87), 29-45.

Seminar social science students:

 Zachs, Furma, Toward a Proto-Nationalist Concept of Syria? Revisiting the American

Presbyterian Missionaries in the Nineteenth-Century Levant. Die Welt des Islams,
2001, Vol.41(2), pp.145-173
 Gran, Peter (2002). “Tahtawi in Paris”, Al-Ahram Weekly Online 10-16 January 2002.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/568/cu1.htm
 Uyar, Mesut. Ottoman Arab Officers between Nationalism and Loyalty during the First
World War. In: War in History 20(4) (2013) p. 526-544.
http://wih.sagepub.com/content/20/4/526.full.pdf+html

Week 4 Economic history and politics

General readings:
 James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, Chapters 5 and 6.

Seminar humanities students:

 Burke III, E. (1991). Changing Patterns of Peasant Protest in the Middle East, 1750-1950.
In Peasants and Politics in the Modern Middle East (pp. 24–37). UF Press.

 Anderson, L. (1987). The State in the Middle East and North Africa. Comparative
Politics, 20 (1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.2307/421917

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  Chalcraft, J. (2016). Millenarianism, renewal, justice, rights and reform, 1798– 1914. In
Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East (pp. 54–60, 186–197).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Seminar Social Science students:

 Fjelde, H., 2009. Buying Peace? Oil Wealth, Corruption and Civil War 1985-99.
Journal of Peace Research, 46, pp. 199-218
 Bayat, Asef (2012). Politics in the City-Inside-OUT. City & Society, Vol. 24, Issue 2,
pp.110-128.

Week 5 The role of ideology, pan-Arabism and Islamism

General readings:
 James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, Chapters 8, 9, and 10.

Seminar humanities students:

 Manduchi, P. (2017). Arab Nationalism(s). Oriente Moderno, 97(1), 4–35.

 Osman, T. (2016). Introduction. In Islamism : What It Means for the Middle East and the
World (pp. VI–XX). London: Yale University Press.
 Chalcraft, J. (2016). Islamism, revolution, uprisings and liberalism, 1977–2011. In
Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East (pp. 393–396).
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511843952.006

Seminar Social Science students:

 Kurzman, “Bin Laden and Other Thoroughly Modern Muslims,” Contexts 1,4
(Winter 2002), 13-20.
 Hashim, S. Ahmed (2014). The Islamic State: From Al-Qaeda affiliate to Caliphate.
Middle East Policy, Vol. XXI, No. 4, pp. 69-83.
 Abou-El-Fadl, Reem (2015). Early pan-Arabism in Egypt’s July revolution: the

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 Free Officer’s political formation and policy-making, 1946-54. Nations and Nationalism 21
(2), pp. 289-308.

Video:
Rethinking Political Islam https://www.brookings.edu/events/rethinking-
political- islam/

Week 6 Minorities and nationalism in the Middle East

General readings:
 James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, Chapter 13 and 14.

Seminar Humanities students:

 Rowe, P. (2019). Introduction: Reclaiming “Minorities” in the Middle East. In Routledge

Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East (pp. 1–16). London: Routledge.
 Belge, C., & Karakoç, E. (2015). Minorities in the Middle East: Ethnicity, Religion, and
Support for Authoritarianism. Political Research Quarterly, 68(2), 280–292.
 Picard, E. (2012). Conclusion: Nation-Building and Minority Rights in the Middle East. In
A. S. Roald & A. N. Longva (Eds.), Religious Minorities in the Middle East: Domination,
Self-Empowerment, Accommodation, 325–50. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004216846_016.

Seminar Social Science students:

 P R Kumaraswamy, P. R (2003). Problems of Studying Minorities in the Middle East.
Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, Vol.2, No.2, Summer 2003
 Kanie, Mariwan (2016). Bringing about the non-citizen in Iraq: A genealogical
approach.
 Pizzo, Paola (2015) The ‘Coptic question’ in post-revolutionary Egypt: citizenship,
democracy, religion, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38:14, 2598-2613, DOI:
10.1080/01419870.2015.1061136 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1061136

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Week 7 The Arab spring

General readings:
 James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, chapter 15, 18, 19 and Conclusions

Seminar Humanities students:

 Moghadam, V. (2021). "Pathways to Democratization: The Arab Spring in

Comparative Perspective," in After the Arab Uprisings: Progress and Stagnation
in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 26-54). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108555357.002
 Gerges, F.A. (2014) The Arab Spring Popular Uprisings – Myth and Reality, Open
Democracy, 27 March, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/arab-
spring-popular-uprisings-myth-and-reality/
 Bellin, E. (2012). Reconsidering the Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle
East: Lessons from the Arab Spring. Comparative Politics, 44(2), 127–149.
https://doi.org/10.5129/001041512798838021.

Seminar Social Science students:

 F. Gregory Gause III, “Why Middle East Studies Missed the Arab Spring,” Foreign
Affairs 90(July-August 2011).
 Bayat, A. (2021). The Arab Spring and revolutionary theory: An intervention in a
debate. Journal of Historical Sociology, 34(2), 393–400.
https://doi.org/10.1002/johs.12334
 Hanafi, Sari (2012). The Arab revolution; the emergence of a new political
subjectivity. Contemporary Arab Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 198-213.

Video:
‘This House believes that Arab revolutions will just produce different dictators,’ Doha
Debate (22 February 2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGmeEZDl8

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