Welcome to the Political Science 217 webpage!

This is where you can come when you need to refer to the syllabus, and where you will post responses for your discussion groups.

Instructor: Quinn Mecham

Office: 111 Robert A. Jones House

Office Phone: 802-443-5929

E-mail address: qmecham@middlebury.edu

Office hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 1-2pm

NOTE: Office hours during these times are by appointment.  Please e-mail me to schedule a meeting time during the office hours above. Meetings are scheduled in 15-minute intervals.  If you need more time, please sign-up for more than one slot.

Introduction:

This course is an introduction to important themes, concepts, and cases in the study of Middle Eastern and North African politics.  The course examines political issues in the region from the early 20^th century to the present, focusing primarily on issues of relevance to the region today.  For the purposes of this course, the region is defined as the countries of the Arab world, Israel, Turkey, and Iran. The first half of the course introduces major themes in Middle Eastern politics.  These include early state development, nationalism, revolution, authoritarian rule, the petro-state, the Arab-Israeli conflict, conflicts in the Persian Gulf, civil society, civil conflict, human rights, the rise of Islamism, and attempts at liberal reform.  The second half of the course examines how these themes have affected political development in a number of key cases.  Primary cases include Egypt, Israel, Iran, Morocco, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.   Students will have the opportunity to individually assess other countries of personal interest in the region.

Previous completion of Political Science 103: Introduction to Comparative Politics is recommended.