DAFF 25A13 - International Community and the Troubled Middle East (The)

Whatever is meant by “Middle East”, traditionally defined as the region extending from Egypt to Iran, or more recently, after the 9/11 attacks, as a « Broader Middle East » from Morocco to Afghanistan and Pakistan, this part of the world has always been described as dominated by external actors: European imperial powers, especially Great Britain and France, until the turning point of the Fifties ; the two superpowers of the Cold War, the United States and the USSR, until 1991 ; the American “hyperpower” until the tipping point of the Invasion of Iraq in 2003 ; then the American withdrawal initiated by Barack Obama and accelerated by Donald Trump was concomitant to the Russian “coming back” as illustrated by the last developments in the Syrian and Libyan crises. Since the Iraqi quagmire, the United States as the other actors of the “International Community” seem to be unable to prevent a regional tilt towards a sense of chaos conveyed by the failure of the “Arab springs”, the crumbling of the modern States and borders, the growing autonomy of the local actors and the emergence of new transnational non-State actors such as al-Qaeda and more recently the Islamic State. Nowadays, the traditional logics of the area seem to be no more operating: at the end of Trump's mandate, Israel was recognized by four more Arab States (after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994) without any solution being brought to the Palestinian issue ; Erdogan's Turkey turns its back to Israel, to the NATO and to the EU and plays a “spoiler's game” in the Mediterranean and the Middle East ; monarchies of the Arabic peninsula, known for a long time to keep a “low profile” on the international arena, play today a more and more assertive, even aggressive, role ; Islamic Republic of Iran's hardliners, faced to the US “maximal pressure”, develop a disruptive regional policy, using links with the various shii' revolutionary groups and the tools of assymmetric and hybrid warfare. The course will try to make the point about the actors' identity, the current situation of crises more and more threatening for the international security – in the first place for the European Union, and to bring out some keys of understanding. It will be delivered on an hybrid way, with physically attending students and remote students.

Pierre THENARD

Séminaire

English

Spring 2021-2022

The evaluation of each student's performance will be based on 1/ an oral presentation in front of the class; 2/ a written paper at home; 3/ individual commitment of the student. A short quizz could be organized from time to time to check that every student understood the basic facts discussed the previous two hours.