Institute for Middle East Studies

Student Research

In their final semester, students participate in a three credit capstone course that allows them to apply their substantive and theoretical knowledge of the Middle East to a current policy problem. Working under the guidance of a Middle East Studies faculty member, students use their research, writing, presentation and teamwork skills to produce a policy-based research paper.

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2012 Capstone Papers

• The Triangle of Conflict: How Bahrain's Internal Divisions Inhibit Reconciliation
• Restricted Existence: A Study of the Social Dynamics and Legal Challenges Faced by Non-Camp Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
• The Politicization of the Egyptian Salafiyya: Principled Participation and Islamist Competition in the Post-Mubarak Era
• Divided and Conquered? Shifting Dynamics and Mechanisms of Control in Turkish Civil-Military Relations
• The Egyptian Military in Post-Mubarak Politics: The Protector or Prosecutor of the Revolution
• Can Foreign Aid Win 'Hearts and Minds?' - Impact of USAID on Palestinian Public Opinion
• Redefining 'Interim': UNIFIL's Tangled Mission in Lebanon
• In the Name of Muqawama: The Domestic Political Ramifications of Hezbollah's Support for the Assad Regime
• The Red Line: Press Freedom in Post-Mubarak Egypt
• The Syrian National Council: A Victorious Opposition?
• Job Creation in Tunisia: Investing in Human Capital Post-Ben Ali
• Jordan & The People's Perception of the King

2011 Capstone Papers

• Strategic Depth of Strategic Drift?: Contending with Turkey's Rapprochement with Syria and the Middle East
• Two-Level Games in a Battleground State: Lebanon and Foreign Policy
• Flowing Waters: Towards a More Equitable Solution in the West Bank and Israel
• Maverick of the Gulf: Qatar's Strategic Moves to Enhance Its Nation Brand
• Who Cares What the Taxi Driver Thinks?: Public Opinion and Domestic Policy in Jordan and Syria
• Kuwaiti Shia: Government Policies, Societal Cleavages, and the Non-Factor of Iran
• Education and Continuity in Omani Foreign Policy: Why the Next Generation Matters
• Religion and Refusal in the IDF: Prospects for a West Bank Withdrawal
• Hydropolitics Between Turkey and Syria: More Politics Than Water
• Let's Talk About Sex, Habibi: How Modes of Socialization Shape Arab Muslims' Gender Identities and Gender Roles

2010 Capstone Papers

• Jordan's Counterterrorism Strategy & US-Jordanian Cooperation
• The Struggle for Reform in Jordan: Elites, Non-Elites and Fashion Cafe
• The Role of Protest in Egyptian Politics
• Syrian-Israeli Peace in the Golan: No Walk in the Park
• Ancient Modernity and Amazighit��: Reimagining the Moroccan National Identity
• The Palestinian Private Sector: Capacity Development in an Era of Seperation
• The Islamic Movement in Israel: Walking the Tightrope
• The Fortunes of Political Salafism in Gaqza and Algeria
• Dependent Aspirations: The Oil Policies of the Kurdistan Regional Government
• Egyptian State Feminism on the Silver Screen: The Depiction of the "New Woman" in Nasserist Films (1954-1967)
• A Theban Legion on the Banks of the Potomac: Coptic Political Activism in the Diaspora, the U.S., and the Egyptian Polity

2009 Capstone Papers

• Maintaining Patron-Client Relations: State Responses to Displaced Iraqis in Jordan
• Change Within Stability: The Politics of Financial Sector Reform In Syria
• Israeli Syrian Hydropolitics: The Golan, Water, and Prospects for Peace