Mini-Course

Public Policy Challenges in the Arab Region

Rami G. Khouri

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


Course Details

Dates: April 6-9, 2009
Time: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Harris School, 1155 E. 60th Street, Quiet Study Area
RSVP online.


Course Overview

Four lectures and discussions on major public policy 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 four lectures will cover the following topics:

April 6 - Overview: Political Economy, post-Cold War Evolution of Power and Identity
Economic stress and disparity during the past generation throughout the region underpin 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.

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Readings:

April 7 - 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 Hamas, and the consequences of the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war and the 2008-09 Hamas-Israel war.

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Readings:

April 8 - The Arabs, Israel and the West
A century of tensions with Israel/Zionism and major Western powers persists throughout the Arab region, and has spread 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.

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Readings:

April 9 - The new cold war in the Middle East
The strategic balance in the Middle East today has changed considerably from what it was just ten or 20 years ago, as the region is broadly divided into two camps aligned respectively with the US and Iran-Syria. This regional “cold war” mirrors the former global cold war in how the two sides confront each other through military action by their allies, proxy wars, political and economic power, and cultural forces. The region is defined by a series of interlocking conflicts, which cannot easily be treated individually. One option the Obama administration might consider is a “grand bargain” with Iran, though it is not clear if Iran is interested in such a move. How this relationship plays itself out will impact significantly on conditions throughout the region.

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Readings:

Rami Khouri

Contact Information
Kathi Marshall, Assistant Dean of Students
Phone: 773-834-2196
E-mail: kathim@uchicago.edu


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