AMPG 23A10 - States and Societies in the Middle East

This course focuses on the political sociology of the State and State-Society relations in the contemporary Arab World. Putting the broader theories of the State in conversation with the empirical reality of the Arab world, it describes how a particular pattern developed in the Arab region in the 19th and 20th centuries, as a result of both external influences and internal factors. It discusses some of the dominant features of this pattern (authoritarianism, rentierism, corporatism, etc.) and shows how the pattern has been transformed during the last few decades. By identifying their "strengths" and "weaknesses", the course explains why the Arab States and regimes have been so resilient throughout the 20th century, and why, with the ‘Arab revolutions', some of them have been challenged. Main subjects : Political science, Sociology of the State, Constitutionalism.
Stéphane LACROIX,Aghiad GHANEM
Cours magistral seul
English
Spring 2023-2024
The comprehension of the main theories and notions studied in class will be assessed through : - A critical book review to be submitted two weeks before the end of the semester (details to be specified during the first session of the semester) : 40 % of the global grade - A final written exam (3 hours) : 50% - In-class participation : 10%
Nazih Ayubi, Over-Stating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East, I.B. Tauris 1996.
Asef Bayat, Life as Politics : How ordinary people change the Middle East, Stanford University Press, 2009
Roger Owen, State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, Routledge, 2000
Alan Richards, John Waterbury, A Political Economy of the Middle East, Westview Press, 2009
Kjetil Selvik, Stig Stenslie, Stability and Change in the Modern Middle East, I.B. Tauris, 2011.