210163 SE M4: Internationale Politik und Entwicklung (2020S)

Goals, contents and method of the course
This course aims to provide students with a deep understanding of Politics of the Arabian Peninsula. This sub-region of the Middle East is shaping contemporary global politics in profound ways. From the Arab Spring, to the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, to Nuclear Weapons in Iran, to the Petrodollars of Saudi Arabia, to the skyscrapers of Doha and Dubai, to the War in Syria, the Middle East is much talked about, but little understood. Students will come to understand the major narratives about the Gulf region by examining the region’s modern history, politics, economy and security, as well as the social changes that are occurring in this region. The course will also critically examine the impact of oil and authoritarianism has had on the political development, demographics, and geopolitics of the region, as well as its importance to international security. Students will critically assess the relations between the Gulf countries, the role that nationalism, religion and sectarianism has played as legitimizing forces for these countries as well as factors dividing some of them, and the issue of transnational identities versus national loyalties.
This course examines four distinct but related angles:
-Political system and political history of Gulf Monarchies
-Society and Economics
-Actors of change and Political Islam in the Arabian Peninsula
-Geopolitics of Gulf and the Arab Spring
The main objective of the course is to supply students with the theoretical skills and empirical evidence necessary to evaluate and develop their own arguments about contemporary politics in the Gulf.