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.

1/ Book review on a book chosen from the selected bibliography (due for session n°9) – 50%

2/ Final exam 50%