1 PSC 371 Middle Eastern Politics Fall 2008 Instructor: Fait Muedini Class Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 2:00pm-2:50pm Classroom: 103 Clemens Hall Office: 414 Park Hall Office Hours: Monday 12:00pm-2:00pm, Wednesday 3:15pm-5:15pm, or by appointment Contact: [email protected] Course Objectives How do events in Arab and Islamic history impact current events in the Middle East? What is Political Islam, and how have different groups used Islam to reach their political objectives in the Middle East? What are the theoretical arguments for and against Islam co-existing with Democracy? What factors may be related to the lack of democracy in much of the Middle East? What are the various Islamic interpretations of the concept of human rights as known in the West? How have states in the Middle East upheld or failed to uphold human rights, including but not limited to women‟s rights? What were the U.S. policies and actions that led to the most recent Iraq war? These are just some of the issues that we will be discussing. This course aims to introduce students to the complexity and historical roots of Middle Eastern Politics. This course will focus on various themes including examining factors for political change, the role of secularism and religion in politics, issues of Islam and politics, democracy, human rights, and women‟s rights in the Middle East. From this course, students should develop an understanding of various social and political science theories and empirical analyses that are related to the course. This course encourages individual thought on various issues, and will be an inviting atmosphere for students to express their opinions, and expects objectiveness and an open forum for a free exchange of ideas. This class is meant for students to not only grasp historical examples of political events in the Middle East, but is also designed to allow students to critically think and examine current trends in Middle Eastern Politics. This course will give you the opportunity to 1) develop problem solving and analytical skills; 2) improve your capacity to think independently; 3) strengthen your proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing; and 4) make your own choices about politically and ethically difficult situations. Required Readings: We will be using one main required book, which is available at the north campus bookstore, along with other articles which will be available online. I have also ordered a recommended book, “Islam and the Challenge of Democracy,” which is not required but is an excellent resource for a more detailed discussion of Islam and democracy. Access to a print (or online) news source that covers the Middle East will also be required. The required book is: Cleveland, William L (2004). A History of the Modern Middle East, 3rd Edition (Westview Press, 2004). ISBN 0-8133-4048-92 Recommended El Fadl, Khaled Abou, Cohen, Joshua, & Chasman, Deborah (2004). “Islam and the Challenge of Democracy.” Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11938-4 Assignments and Grading: This course contains a number of requirements. I. Participation. 15%. Students are expected to come to every class on time, and to be prepared to actively engage and discuss the assigned reading. Students should expect to be asked questions during the class discussion. Students should also feel free to ask any questions to the instructor that they may have. Furthermore, attendance will be taken, and absences from lecture will impact the attendance and participation portion of the overall grade. Participation is a very important component of the overall grade. If a student knows that s/he will not be able to attend a class, the student should notify me ahead of that specific day, so that any needed arrangements may be made for the material covered in class. II. Quizzes. 30%. Throughout the semester, I will be giving a number of pop-quizzes (not announced prior to the start of the said class), at the beginning of the class. The quizzes may be given on any day, and may or may not follow one another. Students will be given sufficient time to complete each quiz. The quizzes will be based off of the reading material assigned for that given day, regardless if the material is being covered in lecture. The quizzes may be in a multiple-choice, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, essay, or a combination of these formats, of which the formats may or may not switch from quiz to quiz. If a student shows up to class while the quiz is taking place, s/he will still be given the quiz, but will only have the remainder of the time designated to complete the quiz. If a student comes in after the allotted time for completing the quiz, s/he will not be able to complete a quiz, and will receive a “0” for that quiz grade. Along with the random reading quizzes, one Middle East map quiz will be given at some point in the semester. This quiz may or may not be on the same day of another reading pop quiz, and will be included with the other quizzes to determine the overall quiz grade. If a student is absent on the day of the quiz, s/he will not be able to make up the quiz. I will however drop the lowest quiz grade (this includes missing a class on a day of a quiz). III. Exams. 20% each (40% total). A total of two in-class exams will be given in this course. The first exam will be given on Monday October 13th, 2008 and will be worth 20% of3 the total grade. The second exam will be administered on December 5th, 2008, the last day of class, and will be worth 20% of the total grade. If for any reason a student knows ahead of time that s/he will be unable to attend class during any of these times, arrangements can be made to take the exam at another time. The format of the exams may be multiple choice, essay, fill in the blank, short answer, or a combination of the above. IV. Newspaper Assignments. 15%. Students will be expected to follow current events in the Middle East, and will thus be required to read and write a summary on a news article related to Middle Eastern Politics due every Monday except for when there is an exam (one will not be due the week of the second exam). The summaries will be 12 in total, of which the first one will be due beginning Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008. The news summary should be roughly ½ to no more than 1 page single spaced. In the summary, students should identify the title, author, publication, and publication date of the newspaper article. The