Islam Politics and Terror in the Middle East

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The course will deal with the interaction between Islam and politics in the modern Middle East (19th and 20th Centuries). It will analyze the formation of religious attituedes to politics and government from the pre-modern period till the present, with an emphasis on the modern period; it will discuss the impact of political processes on the evolution of religious ideologies, particularly the impact of western-dominated modernity on the Muslim countries of the Middle East; the use of religion for political mobilization and alternatively as a source of political identity. Among others, the course will discuss the Muslim Brothers movements in various countries; the rise of the radical Salafi-jihadist movement; relations between clergy and state in Iran; the attitude of Islamist movements towards gender issues; the role of religion in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the dilemma of religious movements and democracy.