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History and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (SPS-RESART-EA-24)

SPS-RESART-EA-24

Purpose

Almost fifteen years after the Arab uprisings, several pressing problems and dilemmas continue to mark the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). These include unresolved conflicts and ongoing civil wars, political fragility, a general upgrade of authoritarianism, crony capitalism, ever-rising socio-economic inequalities, high youth unemployment, exclusionary ethno-religious politics, migration and refugee flows, and environmental degradation. Yet, the region continues to be of strategic importance, with external powers, most notably the US and the European ‘neighbour’, being mostly interested in the stability of the region. With every ‘crisis’ in the region, self-declared Middle East experts pop up, but popular analyses often lack historical background, context, area-specific knowledge, and conceptual rigour. At the same time, Middle East scholars have been accused (and unfairly so) of not having been able to predict crucial events in the region, such as Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, 9/11, the consequences of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the Arab uprisings, and, more recently, the Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7, 2024. Register for this course