3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course examines U.S. policy responses to the changing political and security landscape of the Middle East. Bringing together historical events, primary sources and secondary literature and contextual analysis, this course provides the analytical skills required to develop a sophisticated understanding of the current political and security situation in the Middle East. Students will engage key topics in modern Middle Eastern politics and security, including the origins of Islam, Arab nationalism and its rise to prominence, the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, the internal/external struggles against Western imperialism, the competition among Arab states for regional dominance, the Cold War the Middle East, America’s relations with Iran and Iraq, the oil economy of the Gulf, the challenge minorities pose to the region, the rise of Islamic radicalism, the Arab Spring, and the rise and fall of the Islamic State.