Mini-Course

Passions and Policies of the Contemporary Arab World: Insights and Overviews from within the Region

Rami G. Khouri
Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut
Editor-at-large, The Daily Star

* This course is full. Registration is now closed.

Course Details

Dates: February 26, 27, 28, 2008
Time: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Quiet Study Room, 1155 E. 60th Street

Course Overview

Three lectures and discussions on major themes that define the Arab world, as seen by a seasoned journalist, analyst and public policy think tank director at the American University of Beirut. The aim is to familiarize students with issues and sentiments that define the majority of ordinary Arab men and women, along with the views of Arab governments and the role of foreign governments in the region. The lectures aim to help students grasp the key policy challenges and political driving forces in the Middle East, and to appreciate why people feel and behave as they do in the Arab world, offering insights and analyses that are not usually given in the US public sphere.

Syllabus

The three lectures will cover the following topics:

February 26 - Overview: Political Economy, post-Cold War Evolution of Power and Identity
Economic stress and disparity during the past generation throughout the region underpins many of the tensions and conflicts in the Arab World. A review of the past 30 years shows that most Arabs are poor and getting poorer in many cases, and political economy issues continue to fuel extremism and tension in the region. Geo-strategic evolution since the end of the Cold War has also allowed many indigenous identities to flourish in the region, and has contributed to significant changes in the nature and exercise of power by governments, non-state actors, foreign armies and international organizations.

Readings:

• "How the Arabs Compare," Arab Human Development Report 2002, Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2002.
• "The Arab World: Performance and Prospects," Abdlatif Yousef Al-Hamad, Dubai, UAE, 2003.
• "Political Decay in the Arab World," Lisa Anderson
• "Macroeconomic Trends in the Middle East and North Africa," Economic Research Quarterly.
• "Chief: It's the Economy, Stupid (well, partly at least)," Rami G. Khouri, Middle East Pulse, March 5, 2003.

February 27 - Democracy, Dignity, and Islamist Movements’ Political Dominance
As political systems have opened up to a large extent in many Arab countries since the late 1980s, Islamist movements have grown strong and pervasive; what they tell us about modern Arab political systems and popular sentiments; what they represent now in political, social, ideological terms; how should they be dealt with? Are these movements more about religion or politics? Special focus on the power and meaning of Hizbullah and the consequences of the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war.

Readings:

• "Islam & the West: Testing the 'Clash of Civilizations' Thesis," Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart, May 2002.
• "When Arab Democrats Are Denied Democracy," Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global, September 21, 2005.
• "An Ordinary Arab Week. Full of Hope," Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global, January 16, 2007.
• "Islamists in the Arab World: The Dance Around Democracy," Graham E. Fuller, Carnegie Papers, No.49, September 2004.
• "What Do Islamists Really Want? An Insider's Discussion with Islamist Leaders," Abdeslam Maghraoui, USI Peace Briefing, May 2006.
• "The Muslim world and the West: the roots of conflict," Ismael Hossein-Zadeh, Arab Studies Quarterly, Summer 2005.
• "Hizbullah is Both Local and Global," Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global, December 28, 2005.
• "The Limits of Limited Reforms," Tamara Wittes and Michael McFaul, Journal of Democracy, January 2008.

February 28 - The Arabs, Israel and the West
A century of tensions with Israel/Zionism and major Western powers persists throughout the Arab region, and may be spreading to non-Arab Iran and perhaps Turkey. The role of freedom and democracy in Arab and American worldviews, how the gap between them has widened in recent years, and how it could be narrowed. The Arab focus on dignity and justice vs. the American focus on democracy and freedom will be seen through the events in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and other lands. Is democracy a potential meeting ground for Arabs and Americans to work together for their common good? How the Arab-Israeli conflict and Arab-Western tensions intersect, and what could be done to defuse them. The important role of historical memory in Arab worldviews, including how many Arabs perceive the current American-led "war on terror" through a wider prism than the post-9/11 world.

Readings:

• "The Israel Lobby," John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, London Review of Books, Vol.28, No.6, March 23, 2006.
• "Israel’s False Friends," John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2008.
• "Israel’s True Friends," Artur Davis and Eric Cantor, January 12, 2008.
• "Israel’s Ties that Bind," Mitchell Bard, Los Angeles Times, January 10, 2008.
• "Myth and Reality: Jewish Influence on US Middle East Policy," Mitchell Plitnick, Jewish Voice for Peace.
• "The Stakes: America and the Middle East," Shibley Telhami, Westview Press.
• "The Worst of the 19th and 21st Centuries," Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global, February 26, 2007.
• "America in Arab Eyes," Shibley Telhami, Survival, Vol.49, No.1, Spring 2007.
• "Europe's Flawed Approach to Arab Democracy," Richard Youngs, Centre for European Reform, October 2006.
• "The 'New Middle East' Bush Is Resisting," Saad Eddin Ibrahim, The Washington Post, August 23, 2006.

RSVP

All lectures will take place from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. in the Quiet Study Area - 1155 E. 60th Street.
This course is full. Registration is now closed.