Module description
Once again at the heart of heated debates among policy-makers, activists and academics in the long aftermath of the Arab uprisings, the Middle East is often understandably approached from a security perspective. This tends to reproduce an image of the Middle East as a hopeless case, shifting our analytical attention towards grasping the essence of its exceptionalism. Reverberations of this are also visible in political economy. To mention but one example, modules on the political economy of development often leave out the Middle East, focusing instead on one or more regions between Latin America, East and South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
This module moves beyond this exceptionalist narrative by looking at the Middle East as a late developing region inserted within the global political economy. This serves two important purposes. On the one hand, it shows the variety of ways in which the region is integrated into global dynamics, pertaining to flows not only of natural resources, but also of goods, capital and labour. On the other hand, this approach also permits us to develop a deeper understanding of the high – and arguably increasing – degree of differentiation within the Middle East with respect to the form and degree of integration of the various economies, and of its constituent actors, within the global political economy. While the focus is mostly on the Arab countries of the Middle East, the module also covers Iran, Israel and Turkey, thus further highlighting the extent of this differentiation within the region.
*Please note that module information is indicative and may change from year to year.
Assessment details
10-minute presentation on group project (30%) and one 2,500-word research essay (70%)
Educational aims & objectives
The module aims to:
- Provide students with conceptual and analytical tools, mostly from the field of International Political Economy (IPE), adequate for grasping the political economy of the Middle East and the insertion of this region in the global political economy.
- Provide a deep empirical understanding of the complexities surrounding the role and position of the Middle East in the global political economy.
- Assess the merits and limits of dominant approaches to the study of the international political economy of the Middle East.
- Evaluate the extent to which international, transnational and global forces have penetrated and transformed the economic, political and social fabric of the Middle East and of the different countries within it.
Learning outcomes
When students have completed this module, they are expected to be able to:
- Identify, compare and assess competing analytical frameworks from IPE and their ability to account for the political economy of the Middle East in a global perspective.
- Undertake both historical and between-country comparisons, and hence appreciate similarities and differences in the developmental trajectory of Middle Eastern states, and in their integration in the global political economy.
- Present on topics pertaining to the module in a coherent, concise and compelling way (transferable).
- Become proficient in ‘mining’ and handling sources, both primary and secondary, and use them to inform presentations, essays and participation to class discussion (transferable).
- Conduct independent research into a central aspect pertaining to the Middle East in the global political economy (transferable).
Teaching pattern
One 2-hour seminar, weekly
Indicative teaching schedule
Part I: Introduction and Background
Week 1: The Middle East and IPE: Beyond Mutual Estrangement
Week 2: Middle East Incorporated: From the Ottoman Empire to US Hegemony
Part II: Taking ‘Regional Narcissism’ Seriously
Week 3: Where It All Begins? Resource Abundance and Scarcity
Week 4: Regimes Matter! But Which Ones, and How?
Week 5: Islam within Capitalism, Capitalism within Islam Reading week
Part III: The Middle East in Times of Neoliberal Globalisation
Week 6: Development in an Open World: The IPE of Foreign Lending and Aid
Week 7: Structural Adjustment: Where Global and Local Meet
Week 8: Go with the Flow(s)? Trade, Investment and Labour Flows
Week 9: ‘Bread, Freedom, Social Justice’: The Arab Uprisings in the GPE
Week 10: The Middle East beyond Empire: Geopolitics Strikes Back?
Note that this teaching schedule is indicative and subject to change
Suggested reading list
- Beinin, J., Haddad, B. & Seikaly, S., eds. (2021) A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa (Stanford: Stanford University Press).
- Cammett, M., Diwan, I., Richards, A. & Waterbury, R. (2015) A Political Economy of the Middle East, 5th ed. (Boulder: Westview Press).
- Halliday, F. (2005) The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
- Henry, C.M. & Springborg, R. (2010) Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
- Mitchell, T. (2011) Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil (London: Verso).
- Stetter, S., ed. (2012) The Middle East and Globalization: Encounters and Horizons (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).