International Studies INST 4850-01 Political Economy of the Middle East Senior Seminar

University Of North Texas

Spring 2013

Instructor: Dr. Emile . Sahliyeh

Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2-3:30.

Office: General Academic Building GAB Room 470.

Office Phone: 940 565-2323

E-mail:

Teaching Assistant: Richard Glass

Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2-3:30.

Office: General Academic Building GAB Room 470

Office Phone: 940 565-2323

E-mail: Glass, Richard <>

Course Description

This course will explore the political economy of the Middle East and the impact of globalization upon the region. The course will examine the rise of the public sector and economic liberalization and the impact of the World Bank and the International Monetary fund upon economic development in the Middle East. It will also investigate the various strategies of economic development which the Middle East countries pursued.These strategiesinclude: agricultural-exports, mineral-exports, import substituting industrialization (ISI), manufactured exports and agricultural development-led industrialization, and privatization of the public secter. In addition, the course will explore the several problems that confront the economic development in the Middle East including population surge, poverty, unemployment, urbanization and urban violence, health, education, welfare, and water and food shortages. Throughout the course, we will focus on the role of the state in managing these economic and social problems. The course will also explore the interrelationships between economic development and political change. In particular, it will explore the impact of oil on the status of democracy in the Middle East, the crisis of authority, military intervention in politics, the Arab Uprising, and Islamic economics.

I will make a determined effort to avoid the discussion of these issues from a single ideological perspective. Rather, I will introduce the students to the various approaches to the study of Middle East political economy and provide opportunities for informative and critical evaluation and discussion.

Course Requirements

1. Class Attendance Is Mandatory. Unexcused absences after The Third Absence will result in the Student Losing Three Points From The Final Grade For The Course. Students Who Leave The Classroom During The Lecture Will Be Treated As Being Absent From The Class.

2. Summaries of Weekly Readings and Class Participation10% of your final grade:

Class Participation Is Mandatory And Will Affect Your Final Grade. The quality of class discussion will depend upon the students' preparedness and interest. You should read the weekly assignmentsand e-mail to Richard a summary of 2 to 3 pages of the weekly readings. You should also be prepared to ask questions and comment on the readings.

3. Mid Term Exam March 7 Covering Weeks 1-7andwill count for 30% Of Your Final Grade.

4. FiveArticle Reviews will count for 15% of Your Final Grade.

5. Country Report paper will count for 15% Of Your Final Grade.

6. Final Exam May 7 at 1:30-3:30 in the same classroomwillcount for30% of Your Final Grade.

Schedule of submission of assignments:

Articles reviews

You have to get my prior approval for the 5 articles you intend to review no later than January 24. You should select a theme related to our class topics for the articles which you review such as oil, economic development, public sector, employment, economic privatization, status of women, human rights, status of democracy, etc. You should submit electronically to me 10 article titles including the title of the article, author, journal, date of publication, and the length of the articles. I will select 5 appropriate articles for you to review. Each article should be drawn from scholarly journals and should be at least 10 to 15 pages in length. The articles should be published after 2005. Each article review should be between 1000 to 1200 words. You should submit to me electronically our articles reviews.

The first article review is due on February 9. the next 2 articles reviews are due on February 23. The last 2 articles reviews are due on March 16.

B. Country report:

You should submit to me by February 3 electronically ONE page outline of your country report, including the topic you will explore, what data sources you will use, and a tentative bibliography.Feel free to come to our office during my office hours in the first two weeks of the semester to discuss the details of your country report.

The country report is due on April 23. You should send it as an attachment to my e-mail and it should be in Microsoft Word.Make sure to include the bibliography. The paper must be between 10-15 pages.

You may select to write your country report on ONE of the following two topics:

Country CHOICE ONE: The Nature of the Electoral System, including:

Electoral law:

Voting rights and qualifications for men and women
Electoral and parliamentary districts single or multi-seat districts
Candidates for office qualifications
Mechanisms for resolving inconclusive national elections

Freedom of Assembly and Association:

Political parties
The main political parties, their agenda, and electoral platform
Their parliamentary representation and seats

You should provide tables that will support (or refute) the literature for the topic you select. You may select data from the following sources:

For the first country choice, Nature of the Electoral System, you may want to check the following sources for supporting tables:

Paul Hensel’s Political Data:
Election Guide:
Election data:

IPU’s PARLINE (Parliaments Online):

CIA World Factbook: CHOICE TWO: The Nature of the Political Regime and the Level of Democratization, including:

Powers of the President:

Term of office
Parliament powers
Term of office for the members of the parliament
The nature of the relationship between the president and the parliament including executive accountability to the parliament, the parliament’s power of vote of no confidence
Judicial independence
Appointment and tenure of judges

The Civil Liberties of the Individual:

Freedom of the press, assembly, association, and speech
Freedom of religion and separation of religion from politics

For the second country choiceNature of the Political Regime and Level of Democratization, you may want to check the following sources for supporting tables:

Polity IV Regime Authority:
Freedom House Political & Civil Liberties:

Freedom House Women's Rights in MENA:
UN Human Development Index:
Paul Hensel’s Population and Social Data:
CIRI Human Rights Data:
IPU’s PARLINE (Parliaments Online):
CIA World Factbook:

Textbook and Readings Packet

Alan Richards, John Waterbury. A Political Economy ofthe Middle East third Ed.Westview Press, 2007.

James A. Bill and Robert Springborg, Politics inthe Middle East (5th Ed.; Harper Collins, 2000). Both textbooks are at UNT’s bookstore.

The two textbooks are by no means exhaustive and the students are encouraged to read the chapters and articles assigned for each week. Some of the additional weekly recommended readings are placed on the learning blackboard for the course.

To access the course website:Go to learn.unt.edu;

Click on login to blackboard learn;

Click on course content.

Recommended Books:

Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East, Routledge 2009;

Joseph Stiglitz, Making Globalization Work (Norton, 2006);

Clement Henry and Robert Springborg, Globalization and the politics of development in the Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2001);

Abbas Alnasrawi, Arab Nationalism, Oil and Economic Dependency, Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut;

Ilya Harik and Denis J. Sullivan Editors, Privatization and Liberalization inthe Middle East Indiana University Press,Bloomington Indianapolis 1992.

Please, consult the following journals for additional information:

Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies
Arab Studies Quarterly; International Journal of Middle East Studies; Journal of Arab Affairs; Journal of Palestine Studies; Middle East Economic Digest; Middle East Insight; Middle East International; Middle East Survey; Middle East Journal; Middle East Policy; Middle East Reports; Middle East Review; British Journal of Middle East Studies; and MIDDLE EAST REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (MERIA.

Course Outline

Part 1. The Economic Challenge:

Week 1: Historical Background and Economic Development:

Roy Anderson, chapter 5 "The Rise of the State System, 1914-1950" on Blackboard Learn.

Mouman Faudy. "Tribe versus Islam: Post-Colonial Arab States and the Democratic Imperative." Middle East Policy 3:2. on Blackboard Learn;

James A. Bill and Robert Springborg, Politics in the Middle East, Chapter 2

Richards and Waterbury Chapter 2

Week 2:The Emergence ofthe Public Sector and Its Limitations:

Richards and Waterbury Chapter 3, And Chapters 7 and 8.

Bill and Springborg, “Politics inthe Middle East” Chapter 9.

Recommended:

World Bank, Middle East and North Africa: 2005 Economic Developments and Prospects: Oil Booms and Revenue Management online

World Bank, World Development Report 2005, A Better Investment Climate for Everyone.

Week 3:Strategies of Economic Growth --The State Verses the Private Sector:

Richards And Waterbury Chapters 2 And 3 Specially Pages 45-49 and 62-75, And Chapters 9 and 16.

Recommended:

Alan Richards, Economic Imperatives and Political Systems, Middle East Journal, Volume 47, No.2 Spring 1993, Pages 217-227.

Week 4:Labor Markets, Labor Migration, and Unemployment:

Richards and Waterbury Chapter 5 Pages 133-143 and Chapter 15.

Recommended:

World Bank, Unlocking the Employment Potential in the MENA: Toward a New Social Contract.

Part 2. The Social and Demographic Challenge:

Week 5:Population Growth Education and Health:

Richards and Waterbury Chapters 4 and 5

Week 6: Water Resources, Food Security, Urban Poverty, and Urban Political Economy:

Richards and Waterbury Chapters 6 And 10.

Recommended:

Glenn Firebaugh and Frank D. Beck "Does Economic Growth Benefit the Masses? Growth, Dependence, and Welfare in the Third World", American Sociological Review, 1994 Volume 59 (Pages: 631-653)

Arab Human Development reports home page

United Nations Development Program, Human Development Reports online: download

Midterm Exam March 7

Part 3. The Interaction between Economics and Politics:

Weeks7and 8:Modernization, Oil, and political Development:

James A. Bill and Robert Springborg, Politics inthe Middle East, Chapter 1

Recommended:

Michael L. Ross, "Does Oil Hinder Democracy?" World Politics 53: 3 (April 2001), 325-361, on Blackboard Learn.

Michael L. Ross, "The Political Economy of the Resource Curse," World Politics 51:2 (Jan 1999), on blackboard Learn.

Michael Herb, "No Representation Without Taxation?" Comparative Politics, April 2005, on Blackboard Learn.

Week 9: The Problem of Legitimacy andthe Crisis of Authority inthe Middle East:

Richards and Waterbury Chapter 11.

Recommended:

Michael Hudson, "The Legitimacy Problem in Arab Politics"and "The Crisis of Authority", on Blackboard Learn;

World Bank, Better Governance for Development in the MENA (Wash DC, 2003).

Week 10:The Roll of Informal Groups in the Politics and economics of the Middle East:

Bill and Springborg, “Politics in the Middle East” Chapter 3

Richards and Waterbury Chapter 12.

Week 11:The Impact of Political Elites and Political Leadership on Economics and Politics:

Bill and Springborg, “Politics inthe Middle East” Chapters 4 and 5.

Paul Salem. "Rise and fall of Secularism in the Arab World." Middle East Policy 4:3. on Blackboard Learn;

Week 12:Economic and Political Development and the Crisis of Political Institutionalization inthe Middle East andthe Role ofthe Military:

Richards and Waterbury Chapter 13:

Bill and Springborg, “Politics inthe Middle East” Chapters2 and 6.

Weeks13 and 14: The Crisis of Political Institutionalization and Economic Development inthe Middle East and the Islamic Challenge

Richards and Waterbury Chapter 14;

James A. Bill and Robert Springborg, Politics in the Middle East, Chapter 2

Recommended:

Alan Richards, Socioeconomic roots of Middle East radicalism Naval War College Review Volume: 55 Issue: 4 Washington Autumn 2002 Pages 22-38; on Blackboard Learn;

Khashan, Hilal and Kreidie, Lina The Social and Economic Correlates of Islamic Religiosity. World Affairs; Fall2001, Vol. 164 Issue 2, p83, 14p, on Blackboard;

Optional:

Esposito, John and James P. Piscatori. 1991. "Democratization and Islam." Middle East Journal 45(3).

Svr Nasr. "Democracy and Islamic Revivalism." Political Science Quarterly 110:2.

Final Exam May7 at 1:30-3:30 in the same classroom.

POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

International Studies adheres to and enforces UNT’s policy on academic integrity (cheating, plagiarism, forgery, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty and sabotage). Students in this class should review the policy (UNT Policy Manual Section 18.1.16), which may be located at Violations of academic integrity in this course will be addressed in compliance with the penalties and procedures laid out in this policy.”

International Studies cooperates with the Office of Disability Accommodation to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Please present your written accommodation request on or before the sixth class day (beginning of the second week of classes).

APPEALS

Students may appeal any decision under this policy by following the procedures laid down in the UNT Policy Manual Section 18.1.16 “Student Standards of Academic Integrity.”

Policy on My Lectures

In light of some students selling instructors’ notes for commercial web usage, the following policy statements are legally binding upon you:

You are not authorized to record my lectures, without express prior permission from me.