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International Relations of the Middle East (SPS-WS-SAR-EA-24)

SPS-WS-SAR-EA-24

Purpose

The aim of this seminar is to study the international relations of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by applying concepts and theories from International Relations scholarship. While the study of the international relations of the MENA was traditionally dominated by realist and neo-realist approaches, a rather stark divide used to mark the relationship between IR and Middle East studies until recently — perhaps surprisingly so. Indeed, questions of regional security, war and peace, alliances, foreign interventions, and the role of non-state actors (to name but a few) are central issues in both IR and the study of Middle East politics. More recent scholarship has not only applied a wide range of different approaches to study specific phenomena in the Middle East. It has also highlighted the important contributions – and potential contributions – that one field of study can make to the respective other. While IR concepts and theories may thus help explain events and developments in the Middle East and North Africa, the region also provides crucial case studies for a critical engagement with, and development of, IR concepts and theories.

Starting with an exploration of the reasons why IR and Middle East studies were disconnected from each other for quite some time, the seminar will focus on the usefulness of different approaches in IR to understand and explain political characteristics and developments in the MENA region. It will discuss questions of regional order, alliance formation, interests and identity politics, and domestic (and economic) determinants of foreign policy from different theoretical perspectives while also paying attention to region’s relationship with the US, Europe, and other external actors.
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