Islam Politics: Middle East

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Over the last twenty years, with the War on Terror, the Arab Spring, and the rise of ISIS, there has been an increasingly charged debate over the relevance of religion in explaining developments in the Middle East. How much does Islam really matter? How exactly does religion or religious identity interact with other factors? After considering various theoretical frameworks for understanding the intersection of Islam and politics, the first part of the course will focus on Islamic modernism in the early 20th century, which promoted novel attempts to adapt Islam to the demands of anti-colonialism and the modern nation-state. The second part of the course will consider the sources of religious revival and how this propelled various Islamist movements to the center of Arab politics, as expressed by Muslim Brotherhood and Brotherhood-inspired movements. The Arab Spring allowed several of these groups to try their hand at power, to mixed results, which would lead to reckoning and repression. The course will conclude by exploring U.S., European, and regional responses to the rise of Islamism. What do Islamist groups actually believe, and to what extent do these beliefs conflict with the strategic interests and objectives of external actors?