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Middle East Conflict and Security
UoS Code CISS6013
Credit points 6
Offered Semester 1
Prerequisites
Corequisites
Prohibitions GOVT6154 Conflict and Peace in the Middle East
Assumed Knowledge
Additional Information
Lectures 3hrs per week
Assessment Essays; policy brief
Description The Middle East has been plagued for more than a century by a series of national, ethnic and religious conflicts, reflecting shifting regional alliances, the unresolved legacy of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the end of colonial rule. This unit examines the causes and manifestation of intra and inter-state state conflict in the region today by starting with a theoretical framework for examining the process of state-formation in the region and the particularities of the Middle East as a region of developing states. The unit will focus first on some of the specific challenges to the state across the region (such as tribalism, political Islam, and the oil curse) before examining several inter-state conflicts, with a view of considering the probability of the region becoming more peaceful in the foreseeable future.