Draft-November 13, 2010

PLIR 3650--INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Spring 2011--T-Th 11:00 to 12:15, Wilson 402

Professor William B. Quandt

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 1-2, Gibson S-164

Tel.: 924-7896

Class Home Page: https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/portal

WBQ Home Page: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~wbq8f

This course is designed to introduce students to the international relations of the states of the Middle East during the past one hundred years. Although the course will develop along a chronological path from World War I to the present, special emphasis will be placed on analytical approaches to the understanding of such issues as changes in the regional balance of power, causes of conflict and war, methods of conflict resolution, the role of outside powers and domestic politics in the determination of regional outcomes, the part played by economics and technology in inter-state relations, and the particular importance of oil.

We will focus briefly on the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the modern state system, paying attention to the colonial period of rule and the rise of nationalism. If this is your first course on the modern Middle East, you may need to do extra background reading to catch up. Most of the course will be devoted to the Arab-Israeli conflict, inter-Arab relations, politics in the Gulf region, including the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and the current crises in the region—especially the situation in Iraq, the rising influence of Iran, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The policies of the United States and other outside powers toward the Middle East will also be studied.

Each student will be expected to do the readings for each session of class. Class size may make extensive discussion difficult, but we will find opportunities to discuss the readings and current developments in the Middle East

Course requirements include a mid-term exam on March 3, covering the material up to that time and a final exam on May 10, 9:00-12:00. The mid-term will be worth 100 points; the final will be worth 150 points. Grading will be approximately on a curve -- the top 25% or so of the class will be in the A range; the bottom 25% or so of the class will be in the C range; and the rest will be in the B range. At least this has been the pattern in previous years, but I try to be flexible and will reward excellence wherever I see it. By the same token, exceptionally poor performance or incomplete work will be graded accordingly.

For the final, you will be expected to read an extra book on the US-Iraq relationship from a list at the end of the syllabus. And there will be an extra credit question on the final based on the April 1 conference described on p. 4 of the syllabus.

Finally, I take the Honor Code very seriously and expect you to do likewise. This means that all of your work must be your own – no copying from others during exams, no plagiarism, no use of notes. This should all go without saying, but each year infractions occur and I want to be sure they do not result from misunderstandings of what I expect of you.

Required Reading

Each student should consider buying the following books:

L. Freedman, Choice of Enemies (available as Kindle edition)

F. G. Gause, The International Relations of the Persian Gulf

D. Lesch, The Arab-Israeli Conflict

T. Parsi, Treacherous Alliance (available as Kindle edition)

W. Quandt, Peace Process, third edition (available as Kindle edition)

L. Wright, The Looming Tower (available as Kindle edition)

Books and Videos on Reserve:

W. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East (third edition)

G. Sick, All Fall Down

Shattered Dreams of Peace (video)

The 50 Years War (BBC) (video

Other readings on electronic reserve – on U Va Collab Class Home page under Resources. (If you wish to print out your own course packet of e-reserve readings, I can loan you a CD-R with all the readings on it and you can take it to a copy shop. There are about 300 pages of text on the disc.)

PLIR 3650 -- Course Outline

Jan. 20 -- Introduction

Jan. 25 -- Roots of Conflict and the Legacy of Colonialism

Read: Lesch, chs. 1-4

Freedman, Preface and ch. 1

e-reserves: Halliday, ch. 1; Lustick

Recommended: Cleveland, pp. 102-116; 146-168.

Jan. 27 – Nationalism, World War II and the First Arab-Israeli War

Read: Lesch, ch. 5

Freedman, ch. 2

e-reserves: Halliday, ch. 2

Feb. 1 – The Cold War in the Middle East

Read: Parsi, chs. 1-2

Gause, ch. 1

e-reserves: Brown, International Relations of the ME

Feb. 3 – Oil and the Iran Crisis

Read: Parsi, chs. 3-4

e-reserves: Mossadegh document (summary)

Gasiorowski on 1953 coup

Kinzer, All the Shah's Men, ch. 11.

Feb. 8 – Videoconference from Cairo on Current Crises in the Middle East

(Readings this week on The Arab-Israeli and Inter-Arab Conflicts

and the Road to Suez)

Read: Quandt, ch. 1

Lesch, ch. 6

e-reserves, M. Oren, “1967 War”

Feb. 10 – The June 1967 War and its Aftermath (in-class video on 1967 war)

Read: Quandt, ch. 2.

Lesch, ch. 7

Feb. 15 – War of Attrition, Jordan Crisis, Nixon Doctrine and Iran

Read: Quandt, ch. 3.

Parsi, chs. 5-6

Gause, ch. 2

e-reserves, Sick, All Fall Down, pp. 3-21.

Feb. 17 – The 1973 War

Read: Quandt, ch. 4.

Lesch, ch. 8

e-reserves: Isaacson on Kissinger

Stein, “Calculation and Miscalculation”

Feb. 22 -- Disengagement Agreements and the Politics of Oil

Read: Quandt, ch. 5.

Parsi, ch. 7

Feb. 24 -- The Camp David Negotiations

Read: Quandt, pp. chs. 6-7

Freedman, ch. 3

March 1 – In-Class Review Session

March 3 – Mid-Term

Spring Break

Mar. 15 -- The Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War

Read: Parsi, Chs. 8-10

Freedman, ch. 4

Gause, ch. 3

Wright, chs. 1-6

e-reserves, Sick, All Fall Down, pp. 22-42.

Mar. 17 -- Arab Reactions, Islamic Radicalism and the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon

Read: Quandt, ch. 8.

Lesch, ch. 9

Freedman, ch. 7

Mar. 22 – Hostages, Iran-Contra and the First Intifada

Read: Quandt, ch. 9

Freedman, ch. 8-10, 13

Parsi, chs. 11-12

Mar. 24 -- Iraq Goes to War, 1990-91

Read: Parsi, chs. 13-15

Gause, ch. 4

Freedman, chs. 11-12

e-reserves, Z. Karabell, “Backfire: US Policy Toward Iraq

Mar. 30 -- Madrid to Oslo.

Read: Quandt, ch. 10.

Lesch, ch. 10

Freedman, ch. 14

e-reserves, A. Lake, “Confronting Backlash States”.

Mar. 31 – Clinton’s Middle East Policy

Read: Quandt, chs. 11-12.

Lesch, ch. 11

Freedman, ch. 15

Parsi, chs. 16-18

e-reserves: Malley, Ross on Camp David II

Klieman, "Israeli Negotiating Culture"

Note: On April 1 (Friday), a day-long conference on “The U.S.-Turkish-Israeli Strategic Triangle” will be held at U Va. Students are strongly encouraged to attend either the morning or afternoon sessions of the conference. There will be an extra credit question on the final exam for those who did attend the conference. For the conference schedule, go to http://www.virginia.edu/cis/conferences.html

Apr. 5 – Radical Islam and International Terrorism: Background to 9/11—Part I

Read: Wright, chs. 7-11

Freedman, ch. 16

Gause, ch. 5

e-reserves: Rashid, chs. 1, 10

Apr. 7 -- Radical Islam and International Terrorism: Background to 9/11—Part II

Read: Wright chs. 12-20

Freedman, ch. 17

e-reserves: Doran; Lewis; 9/11 Report, ch. 8.

Apr. 12 –The Iraq War 2003 and Gulf Security – Part I

Read: Parsi, chs. 19-20

Freedman, ch. 18

Gause, ch. 6

e-reserves: Woodward, Plan of Attack, pp. 1-23, 262-274, 376-399.

J. Mann, Rise of the Vulcans, Intro, chs. 20-21

Apr. 14 – The Iraq War 2003 and Gulf Security – Part II

Read: Freedman, ch. 19

Gause, ch. 7

e-reserves: Packer, Assassins' Gate, ch. 4

Apr. 19 -- Bush II, Obama and the Arab-Israeli Crisis

Read: Lesch ch. 12

Freedman, ch. 20

Quandt, ch. 13.

e-reserves: Mearsheimer and Walt, “The Israel Lobby”; Massing on Mearsheimer-Walt

Apr. 21 – Prospects for Peace and Stability in the Middle East

Reading:

Freedman, ch. 21-22

Quandt, ch. 14.

e-reserves, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace

April 26 – New Forces in the Middle East: Turkey, Iran and Others

Reading:

e-reserves, H. Pope, “Pax Ottomana?”

Y. Taskin, “Turkey’s Search for Regional Power”

“Turkey’s Crises Over Israel and Iran”

April 28 – In-Class Discussion of Current Issues, review for final

May 3 – Last Day of Class

May 10 – Final Exam, 9:00 to 12:00, Wilson 402.

For the final, you should read one of the following books on the recent and/or current situation in Iraq. There will be one question of the final worth 25 points that will ask you to draw on the main themes from the book you have read, as well as other readings on Iraq.

Anonymous, Baghdad Burning

Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Larry Diamond, Squandered Victory

Dexter Filkins, The Forever War

James Fallows, Blind Into Baghdad

Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor, Cobra II

Eric Herring and Glen Rangwala, Iraq in Fragments

Jeff Neumann, Babylon by Bus

Kenneth Pollack, The Threatening Storm

Thomas Ricks, Fiasco or The Gamble

Anthony Shadid, Night Draws Near

Rory Stewart, Prince of the Marshes

Reidar Visser, A Responsible End? The United States and the Iraqi Transition, 2005-2010

Bob Woodward, The War Within