OCMO 2275 - Contentious Politics, Uprisings and Social Movements in the Middle East

The course is concerned with the interplay between socio-political transformations and the trajectories of contentious politics in the Middle East. The first part will give a general overview of theories that seek to explain the emergence, expansion, and demobilization of social movements and protests. The second part will look at various protest episodes in the history of the Middle East. First, we will historicize protest waves by showing, as John Chalcraft argues, that these uprisings have not arisen by surprise. Rather there is a longstanding legacy of everyday activism that can be studied through the lens of temporalities. We will look at examples of contentious politics in several countries since the 19th century. Examples are rural, farmers' and anti-austerity protests that have predated the 2011 uprisings. We will also tackle the evolution of gender rights struggles in several polities such as Iraq and Lebanon and look at the nexus between identity politics and the fragmentation of women's legal rights. Moreover, we will study contemporary revolutionary episodes. More specifically, we will explore the wave of uprisings that have unfolded since 2011. To that end, we will unpack their trajectories before taking a closer look at their interactions with regime types, and some of their spillovers such as the rise of “new sectarian wars”, regional polarities and displacement. We will also examine current protest movements in Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, and Sudan. By critically surveying literature strands that have explained the outbreak of the 2011 uprisings and their sequences, we will debate whether current revolts represent a new protest cycle, or whether they are better understood as longer-term waves of contention. The final part will go beyond the uprisings that have unfolded within Middle East states. It will unpack transnational waves of mobilization including migrants' and refugees' protests as well as the role of Middle East communities in worldwide uprisings such as Occupy.

The course adopts a mixed approach by offering both lectures and in-class discussions whereby students explore a variety of readings, case studies and film scripts. Students are expected to produce presentations, group projects and essays devoted to relevant topics. They are expected to track on a weekly basis everyday politics and activism in the region.

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain the main theories and approaches that are used to understand and analyze contentious politics, uprisings, and social movements;

2. Understand key historical, political and economic factors that have shaped the mobilization and demobilization of social movements as well as uprisings in the Middle East;

3. Apply concepts in social movement theory, politics, spatial politics and IR of the Middle East and relate them to contemporary case studies of uprisings and revolts;

4. Understand the cross-border dimensions of social movements and uprisings by analyzing contentious politics through a transnational political prism;

5. Identify and explain variation and similarities in the way national trajectories of uprisings have unfolded in the Middle East.

Professional Skills

1. Develop policy-orientated research, presentation, and teamwork skills;

2. Engage in debates and role-playing scenarios crucial to understanding protesters' and various stakeholders' motivations and aspirations in uprisings;

3. Provide policy recommendations as to how international actors can better understand and assess local complexities underlying protests and their trajectories in the Middle East;

Tamirace FAKHOURY
Séminaire
English

In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester

Reading and Preparation for Class: 4 hours a week / 48 hours a semester

Research and Preparation for Group Work: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester

Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 4 hours a week / 48 hours a semester

Students will receive feedback by email within a week of each assignment. The progress of the assignments will be monitored every two weeks. Formative assessment will be ongoing, and it will be embedded in the discussions and online debates. Students will also workshop and share their ideas in the online discussions and receive feedback from their peers.
Spring 2021-2022

Students will be graded (out of 20) on the basis of:

Midterm project and presentation: 45 %

Final research project: 50%

Active Participation: 5%

Breakdown of summative assessment and brief description

Participation (5%)

Briefing note and presentation: (20%) 2000 words

Final project: analytic essay (40%) 3000 words

Students will receive feedback by email within a week of each assignment.

The progress of the assignments will be monitored every two weeks.

Formative assessment will be ongoing, and it will be embedded in the discussions and online debates.

Students will also workshop and share their ideas in the online discussions and receive feedback from their peers.

Amal Ghazal, Jens Hanssen eds. 2015. The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle East and North African History. New York: Oxford University Press.
George Lawson. 2019. Anatomies of Revolution. Cambridge University Press.
Sarah A. Soule, David A. Snow, Hanspeter Kriesi. 2004. The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements. Wiley.
Tamara Caraus, Elena Paris. 2018. Migration, Protest Movements and the Politics of Resistance A Radical Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism. New York: Routledge.