LS 150B
War and Peace in the Middle East
International Studies
This course presents an analysis of the causes and preconditions of conflict and some efforts at conflict resolution in the Middle East. We will focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict, the various confrontations in the Persian Gulf region, al-Qaeda brand terrorism, and the manifestation of Kurdish national aspirations in several settings. Sources of conflict (nationalist, ideological, ethnic/sectarian, economic, territorial, and foreign manipulation and intervention) will be delineated and scrutinized. Our task will be to identify and explain the factors and actors (internal and external) that have made conflict and conflict resolution in the Middle East more (or less) likely.
All are welcome, but the upper-division designation signals that the course will involve a good deal of reading, writing and thinking.