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Middle East Studies

IAFF 358 The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
This course is a multi-faceted, in-depth examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It discusses key issues in the conflict, presents different historical narratives, and examines the conflict from an interdisciplinary perspective. The course looks at the sources of the conflict and its dynamics over time, applying to the analysis relevant theories about conflict and conflict resolution. While we will discuss the role of the US and its policies in the region, our primary focus will be on looking at the conflict from the vantage point of Palestinians and Israelis living it. In addition to presentations by the professor and class discussions, the course will include a number of films and presentations by guest speakers.

IAFF 358 Iran & Iraq: Society, Politics, War, and Peace
This course is intended to give you information and insight into the history and political culture of modern Iraq and its relations with Iran, its other neighbors, and the United States. The focus will be on the role of occupation, militarism, and nationalism on state formation; the consequences of ethnic, sectarian and ideological conflict; and the impact of these issues on the region and U.S. security from 1914 to the present. The region is important for its geo-strategic location, energy resources, and propensity for weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and autocratic governance. All of these issues are flashpoints for U.S foreign and security policy interests. This course is meant to enhance your knowledge base as well as your ability to analyze these issues; understand them in their geographic, cultural, and historical context; and examine how policy was and is made towards this complex region.

IAFF 358 Political Islam
Following the events of September 11, 2001, the world's attention has been focused on global terrorism and Islamic religious extremism as never before. In the intervening seven plus years, we have witnessed further outbreaks of crises and violence in many parts of the world. At the same time, national and international conflicts in Muslim countries as well as crises in their relations with the Western world have multiplied and grown in severity. As a result, a better understanding of the historical, cultural, religious and political dimensions of the critical events driving the current crises in the Muslim world and its multiple confrontations with the West has become imperative.

Political Islam covers the various mixtures of politics and religion driving the domestic and foreign policies of Muslim countries as well as the ideology of Islamic extremism and global terrorism. This course will examine the four historical, religious and political factors that define Political Islam, namely the political confrontations between radicals and moderates within and among Muslim countries, Islamic terrorism against the West, the present day manifestations of the Sunni-Shia schism and the quest for a new role for Islam in Western Europe.

IAff 358 Saudi Arabia in the 21st Century
Saudi Arabia in matters of politics, security, economics and religion is a key actor in the Middle East. With its geographic location, it custodianship of Islam's two most holy sites, and its possession of 24% of the world's known oil reserves, understanding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is essential in any effort to address Middle East issues. This course aims to look at what makes Saudi Arabia what it is today: its historical basis, the Wahhabi/Al-Saud family relationship, Saudi society and culture, oil as a strategic interest, the regional political dynamics including inter-Arab, Arab-Israeli and Iran, and, importantly, the rise of a militant Islam.

For more than half of the twentieth century Saudi-U.S. mutually beneficial relations were based on oil and security. While this relationship arguably remains vital, the dynamics of that relationship have undergone profound change. Saudi public opinion became increasingly hostile toward the U.S. as a result of the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict exacerbated further by the deployment of American troops on Saudi territory in 1990. The role of Saudi citizens in the 9/11 terrorist attack led to deterioration in the relationship that raised the most fundamental question: Was there an official Saudi role? If so, could there be a relationship?

Both countries recognize that a meaningful relationship remains important and have taken steps to manage the key issues at play. Yet the underlying problems that hinder a closer relationship remain. The question before us is what role Saudi Arabia will play in this new 21st century and how will this role impact on its relationship with the U.S. This then is the focus of this course.

IAFF 358 United States Foreign Policy in the Persian Gulf
On March 19, 2003, forces of the United States and coalition countries opened military action against Iraq. Since that date, U.S. military operations in Iraq and U.S. involvement in regional diplomatic activity have dominated public debate in America. Yet, the coalition's war with Iraq was neither the beginning nor the end of U.S. engagement in the Gulf–a strategic body of water whose very name is under dispute.

This course focuses on the evolution of United States foreign policy in the Gulf from the end of World War II to present, examining both its causes and effects. The Cold War, Arab nationalism, Islam, oil, and regional rivalries will be looked at as factors impacting U.S. decision–making and actions.

The U.S. presence in the Gulf-both diplomatic and military–spans the administrations of eleven presidents. U.S. policy objectives during these decades have been remarkably consistent. Yet, there has been a steady increase in the level of U.S. engagement, such as the extraordinary decision in 1987 to re-flag Kuwaiti oil tankers under the American flag and, as a consequence, to provide U.S. naval escorts. Within two years following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the United States found itself leading an international coalition to liberate Kuwait. Barely a decade later a second war with Iraq again resulted a significant deployment of America's military strength into the Gulf.

Between 1945 and 2004 there were significant changes in the United States' relationships with many of the regional states. Iran under the Shah was an ally; but subsequent to the 1979 revolution the relationship has been tense and hostile. Saudi Arabia has been second to none as a lynchpin of American policy in the Gulf, a long–time ally with common strategic interests but significant social and cultural differences. Events post-9/11 have stressed relations. The U.S. relationship with Iraq has been a roller coaster–from a CENTO ally under the monarchy to enemy number one under Saddam Hussein. The other states in the Gulf became independent nations during this period and all have unique but evolving and deepening relations with the United States. A study of this period of history aims to provide a basis for understanding where U.S. policy may go in the future.

In addition to the course reading material, the professor will draw extensively on his personal experiences as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and State, his assignments as Ambassador to Kuwait during the first Gulf war and as Ambassador to Jordan during the war in Iraq, as well as his work at the United Nations as Deputy Permanent Representative in the 1990's working on Iraqi sanctions and other Iraq related resolutions in the Security Council. His email is ambgnehm@gwu.edu.