U.S. Policy in the Middle East

Catalog description

This course focuses on the strategic challenges facing U.S. policymakers in one of the world's economically, politically, and strategically most important regions. INTAF 814 U.S. Policy in the Middle East (3) This course explores the strategic challenges facing U.S. policymakers in the Middle East, one of the world's economically, politically, and strategically most important regions. It draws on readings and class discussion to help students develop both a sense of the historical evolution of U.S. policy toward the Middle East and an analytic framework for understanding current policy debates. Students will develop a deep appreciation of the impact of U.S. engagement in the Middle East on modern international history and contemporary international affairs. They will learn about the Middle East's place in the United States post-World War II and post-Cold War grand strategy, about America's decades-long quest for strategic primacy in the region, and about competing visions among American elites for the exercise of that primacy. They will examine the key bilateral relationships (with Saudi Arabia, Israel, and -since 1979 - Egypt) that have shaped U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East. They will also explore America's long struggle with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and evaluate the U.S. project to build a post-Saddam Iraq that would help consolidate America's post-Cold War dominance in the region. Against this backdrop, students will also learn about major indigenous challenges to American hegemony in the Middle East - e.g., the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamist resistance movements, and rising demand for participatory Islamist governance among regional publics - and assess U.S. approaches to dealing with these challenges. Students will consider alternative perspectives on jihadi extremism and whether America's self-declared "war on terror" has been self-defeating. Likewise, they will examine America's response to the Arab Awakening, with a particular focus on U.S. military interventions in Libya and (indirectly) in Syria, and Turkey's evolving role in the region. Finally, they will look at Russia's resurgence in Middle East affairs and at the impact of China's deepening engagement in the Middle East and the prospects for Sino-American competition for influence there.