Pol RepressionDissent: Mod ME

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Political Repression and Dissent in the Modern Middle East is a comparative politics course that examines the dynamics of political repression and dissent across the region. Students will be introduced to the concepts of political repression and dissent and some of the key questions in this sub-literature including; What drives dissent? Why do states repress? What is the relationship between regime types and repression? The course provides a survey of repression and dissent dynamics in various countries throughout the region guided by classic and contemporary literature. In this course we will be pursuing two parallel and complementary tracks. The first is a historical survey of episodes of repression and dissent in the Middle East guided by John Chalcraft’s Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East. This is a core text and required reading. Assigned sections will be part of most class sessions. The second track will be a thematic and theoretic survey of the study of political repression.