Near East Studies

Modern day Israel and Palestine, the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, covers an area that is six times smaller than the state of Pennsylvania, but has about the same population size (about 12.7 million people). In addition to the high density of population, this land is the heart of a religious, ethnic, national, and political conflict. This context makes spatial planning an immense challenge and is often used as a tool for achieving various political agendas. After presenting some brief background on the geography and the history of the land, this course focuses on topics including national and regional planning; the New Towns scheme; water planning issues; transportation planning; Jerusalem's geopolitical question; tourism development in historic cities such as Nazareth, Acre, and Bethlehem; the fence of separation, and affordable housing plans.

This course provides an introductory understanding of the processes that shaped the modern Middle East from the turn of the 20th century to today. It seeks to engage with the history of the region from within as it examines themes like colonialism, nationalism, international relations, social and political movements and intellectual trends. The course provides a foundation for more advanced discussions of politics and society in the region.

The course focuses on the domestic politics of the states of the modern Middle East. It applies the major concepts of political science and adopts a thematic approach to offer a large survey of the region, from North Africa to the Persian Gulf, from World War One to the present day. Topics include colonialism, identity politics, political economy, state institutions, political ideology, democratization and civil society, gender and youth, leadership, and regime change.

This course addresses the concept of gender in Islam from historical, socio-political, and legal perspectives. A broad range of topics including contemporary debates on identity, feminism and sexuality are covered. The areas of Islamic law pertaining to women’s legal rights is another topic of discussion. The changing discourse regarding construction of gender identities is explored through studies of women’s movements in Muslim majority countries. 

This course examines the interplay of external and internal factors in inflaming conflict and tension in the Middle East. It covers the role of foreign powers in a number of case studies: the Arab/Israeli conflict, Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf War of 1990-1991, the war on Terror, the Arab Uprisings, and the rise of the Islamic State. These case studies illustrate the difficulties in separating national from international politics and provide a nuanced appreciation of international relations in this vital region.

This course establishes fundamental knowledge needed to understand contemporary Iran. It analyzes political, economic, and cultural transformations which have guided imperial Persia from the beginning of the 19th century to become the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. The course systematically compares Iran and its regional environment with an emphasis on the Arab world and Turkey. It utilizes diverse disciplinary approaches, from social history to political economics, with a focus on political sociology.