Ps 172A: Us Foreign Policy in the Middle East

PS 172A: U.S. FOREIGN POLICY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Malik Mufti Summer 2014 Packard 211 (X 72016)

Purpose

This course will begin by outlining the historical backdrop to current events: the "Near East Question" of the 19th century in which the Ottoman, Persian, Russian, and British empires engaged in a "Great Game" of competition for power and influence from the Balkans to India. The course will then deal with the evolution of United States policy toward the Middle East since World War II, identifying basic American interests in the region, and investigating how the U.S. has pursued those interests in the context of issues such as conflicting nationalisms (including the Arab-Israeli, Iraqi-Iranian, and Turkish-Greek disputes), the role of Turkey and Iran in the regional balance of power, the Islamist revival, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Finally, it will investigate the prospects for two new and possibly inter-related conflicts – a new "Great Game" on the territory of the former Soviet Union and the current "war on terror" – and their implications for the future of Washington's Near East policy.

Requirements

Class will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays in Anderson 313. There will be a mid-session quiz (worth 30% of the final grade) on 9 June, and a final examination (worth 50%) on the last day of class, 25 June. Students are expected to do all the assigned readings as well as participate in class discussions, which will count for the remaining 20% of the final grade.

Readings

The following books (indicated in bold in the Course Outline) should be purchased at the Tufts Bookstore:

1. Ian J. Bickerton & Carla L. Klausner. A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

2. James A. Bill. The Eagle and the Lion

3. William L. Cleveland & Martin Bunton. A History of the Modern Middle East

The rest of the readings will either be available on Trunk, or have URL's (below) for downloading.

COURSE OUTLINE

WEEK ONE

21 May: Introduction

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapters 9-12 (pp. 137-220)

 Bickerton & Klausner: Chapter 2 (pp. 34-64)

WEEK TWO

26 May: No Class (Memorial Day Holiday)

28 May: Iran (1953), Suez (1956), and the Road to 1967

 Bill: Chapters 1-2 (pp. 15-97)

 Bickerton & Klausner: Chapters 4-6 (pp. 96-153)

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapters 14-17 (pp. 255-343)

WEEK THREE

2 June: Arab-Israeli War and Peace (1973-1979); Cyprus (1974)

 Bickerton & Klausner: Chapters 7-8 (pp. 154-203)

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapter 19 (Egypt section: pp. 369-379, 388-392)

4 June: Afghanistan, Iran, and the Iraq-Iran War

 Bill: Chapters 6-8 (pp. 183-315) and 11 (pp. 425-448)

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapters 18, 21 (pp. 347-368; 414-437)

 Saddam Hussein: "The National Potential and International Politics" (pp. 65-84)

WEEK FOUR

9 June: Lebanon and Turkey in the 1980s

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapter 19 (Lebanon section: pp. 380-388)

 Bickerton & Klausner: Chapter 9 (pp. 204-218)

QUIZ

11 June: The Kuwait War and Dual Containment

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapter 22 (pp. 441-462)

 Saddam Hussein: "Speeches" (18 pp.)

WEEK FIVE

16 June: Intifada and Peace Process

 Bickerton & Klausner: Chapters 9-12 (pp. 218-332)

18 June: Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapter 24 (pp. 487-504)

 S. Frederick Starr. "Power Failure: American Policy in the Caspian", National Interest (Spring 1997): pp. 20-31. [http://www.treemedia.com/cfrlibrary/library/policy/ powerfailure.html]

 Henri J. Barkey. "Turkey's New Engagement in Iraq: Embracing Iraqi Kurdistan", United States Institute of Peace Special Report 237, May 2010 (18 pp.). [http://www.usip.org/files/resources/SR237_Turkey%27s%20New%20Engagement% 20in%20Iraq.pdf]

WEEK SIX

23 June: US Regional Policy after September 11

 "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America: September 2002" (35 pp.). [http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf]

 Bickerton & Klausner: Chapters 13-4 and Conclusion (pp. 333-400)

 2007 Iraq Poll: "Ebbing Hope in a Landscape of Loss". [http://www.abcnews.go.com/images/US/1033aIraqpoll.pdf]

 Ray Takeyh. "Time for Détente With Iran", Foreign Affairs, March/April 2007 (8 pp.). [http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070301faessay86202/ray-takeyh/time-for-detente- with-iran.html]

25 June: The Arab Spring

 Cleveland & Bunton: Chapters 25-26 (pp. 505-540)

 Jason Brownlee, Tarek Masoud, and Andrew reynolds. "Why the Modest Harvest?", Journal of Democracy, vol. 24, no. 4 (October 2013): 29-44. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v024/24.4.brownlee.pdf]

 Ari Shavit. "Survival of the Fittest", Ha'aretz, 9 January 2004 (15 pp.). [http://www.logosjournal.com/morris.pdf]

FINAL EXAM