SemesterSpring Semester, 2025
DepartmentMaster Program in Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, First Year Master Program in Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Second Year
Course NameTopics on Conflicts of the Middle East
InstructorCHANG CHING-AN
Credit3.0
Course TypeElective
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule














































































































































































週次



Week

課程主題



Topic

課程內容與指定閱讀



Content and Reading Assignment

教學活動與作業



Teaching Activities and Homework

學習投入時間



Student workload expectation

課堂講授



In-class Hours

課程前後



Outside-of-class Hours

1 (2/19)

Introduction

  1. Sorli, Mirham E., Gleditsch, N. P., and Strand, H. (2005) ‘Why Is There So Much Conflict in the Middle East?’ Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49: 1.

  2. Mather, Y. (2014) ‘The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and Current,’ Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory, 42: 3.




  1. preview

  2. lecture

3

6

Theoretical debates of conflict theory

 2 (2/26)

Conflict theory

  1. Bartos, O. J. and Wehr, P. (2002) Using Conflict Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Ch. 1-3).

  2. Long, W. J. and Brecke, P. (2003) War and Reconciliation: Reason and Emotion in Conflict Resolution, Massachusetts: The MIT Press (Ch. 1).

  3. Matyok, T., Senehi, J. and Byrne, S. eds. (2011) Critical Issues in Peace and Conflict Studies, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education (Ch. 1).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

3 (3/5)

Clash of Civilization vs. Orientalism, and Colonialism

  1. Hauk, E. and Muller, H. (2015) ‘Cultural Leaders and the Clash of Civilizations,’ Journal of Conflict Resolution, 59: 3.

  2. Media Education Foundation (2005) Edward Said: The Myth of ‘the Clash of Civilizations.'

  3. Choueiri, Y. M. ed. (2005) A Companion to the History of the Middle East, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (Ch. 13).

  4. Hardy, Roger (2017) The poisoned well: empire and its legacy in the Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Epilogue).




  1. Stop Blaming Colonial Borders for the Middle.

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

 4 (3/12)

WW 1 & 2 and the Cold War

  1. Ulrichsen, K. C. (2014) The First World War in the Middle East, Oxford: Oxford University Press (Ch. 7).

  2. Jacobs, M. F. (2014) ‘World War 1: A War (and Peace?) for the Middle East,’ Diplomatic History, 38: 4.

  3. Cleveland, William L. and Bunton, Martin (2009) A History of the Modern Middle East, , Boulder: Westview (p. 191, 201-204, 211-213, 228-230, 233-234, 261-267).

  4. Khalidi, R. (2009) Sowing Crisis: The COld War and American Dominance in the Middle East, Boston: Beacon Press (Intro.).

  5. Barrett, R. C. (2007) The Greater Middle East and the Cold War: US Foreign Policy Under Eisenhower and Kennedy, London: I.B. TAURIS (Ch. 6).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

Historical context of the conflicts

 5 (3/19)

Four wars between the Arab countries and Israel: 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973

  1. Milton-Edwards and Hinchcliffe, P. (2001) Conflicts in the Middle East since 1945, New York: Routledge (Ch. 2).

  2. A Companion to the History of the Middle East (Ch. 14).

  3. Varble, D. (2003) The Suez Crisis 1956, Oxford: Osprey Publishing (p.7-14, p.21-72, p. 91-92).

  4. Oren, M. B. (2002) Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Making of the Modern Middle East, New York: Oxford University Press ( p.1-32, 305-327).

  5. Sindawi, K. and Kahana, E. (2015) The Yom Kippur War: The Successes of Israeli Intelligence, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 28: 4.

  6. Siniver, A. (2013) The Yom Kippur War: Politics, Legacy, Diplomacy, Oxford: Oxford University Press (Ch. 1).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

Major wars and conflicts

 6 (3/26)

1979 Islamic revolution & Iran-Iraq war

  1. Abrahamian, E. (2008) A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Ch. 6).

  2. Arjomand, S. A. (1988) The Turban for the Grown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran, Oxford: Oxford University Press (Ch. 5 & 6).

  3. Donovan, J. (2011) The Iran-Iraq War: Antecedents and conflict escalation, London: Routledge (Ch. 1, 2, 6).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

7 (4/2)

Intercollegiate Activities



    No class!


      

 8 (4/9)

Midterm

No class!


      

9 (4/16)

Iraq vs. Kuwait 1990 & US invasion of Iraq 2003

  1. Conflicts in the Middle East since 1945 (Ch. 8).

  2. Long, J. M. (2004) Saddam’s War of Words: Politics, Religions, and the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, Austin: University of Texas Press (Ch.2 & 3).




  1. Ritchie, N. and Rogers, P. (2007) The Political Road to War with Iraq: Bush, 9/11 and the drive to overthrow Saddam, London: Routledge (Ch. 6-9).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

10 (4/23)

Sectarian conflict

  1. Fanar Haddad, Sectarianism in Iraq: Antagonistic Visions of Unity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011 (Ch. 2).

  2. Geneive Abdo, The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017 (Intro.).

  3. Aaron Reese, Sectarian and Regional Conflict in the Middle East, Institute for the Study of War (2013).

  4. Milton-Edwards and Hinchcliffe, P. (2001) Conflicts in the Middle East since 1945, New York: Routledge (Ch. 5).

  5. Abdo, The New Sectarianism (Ch. 5).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

Issues of the conflicts

11 (4/30)

Ethnic and resource conflict

  1. Leonard Binder, Ethnic Conflict and International Politics in the Middle, University Press of Florida (1999) (Intro.)

  2. David Romano and Gurses, M. ed., Conflict, Democratization, and the Kurds in the Middle East Turkey Iran Iraq and Syria, New York: Palgrave macmillan, 2014 (Ch. 1-4)

  3. Toby Craig Jones, America, Oil, and War in the Middle East, The Journal of American History, 99:1 (2012).

  4. Christine Drake, Water Resource Conflicts in the Middle East, Journal of Geography, 96:1 (1997).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

12 (5/7)

Arab Spring

  1. Larbi Sadiki ed., Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring: Rethinking Democratization, London: Routledge, 2015 (Ch. 5-6).

  2. Sadiki ed., Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring (Ch. 9, 11, 12).

  1. Preview

  2. Lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

Development and impact of the conflict

13 (5/14)

Democracy vs peace, and extremism

  1. Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism, American Anthropologist, 104:3 (2002).

  2. Edwards and Hinchcliffe, P. Conflicts in the Middle East since 1945 (Ch. 4).

  3. Amin Saikal and Schnabel, A., Democratization in the Middle East: Experiences, struggles, challenges, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2003 (Ch. 1-2).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

14 (5/21)

University anniversary

   No class!

 

 

 

15 (5/28)

Forced migration

Akm Ahsan Ullah, Refugee politics in the Middle East and North Africa Human Rights, Safety, and Identity, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014 (Ch. 2).

  1. preview

  2. lecture

  3. seminar

3

6

16 (6/4)

Group presentation

              Presentations.


  

3

6

17 (6/11)

Essay

              Essay preparation

No class.


    

18 (6/18)

Essay

          Essay submission.

The students should hand in their essays this week.


    


 


Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant
Requirement/Grading

  1. Participation in seminar (35%).

  2. A 3000 words essay related to the Middle East conflict (45%).

  3. Group presentation (15%)

  4. Attendenance (5%)

  5. Plagiarism will be given zero marks for the course.


Textbook & Reference

  1. Abrahamian, E. (2008) A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  2. Arjomand, S. A. (1988) The Turban for the Grown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  3. Barrett, R. C. (2007) The Greater Middle East and the Cold War: US Foreign Policy Under Eisenhower and Kennedy, London: I.B. TAURIS.

  4. Bartos, O. J. and Wehr, P. (2002) Using Conflict Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  5. Choueiri, Y. M. ed. (2005) A Companion to the History of the Middle East, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

  6. Cleveland, William L. and Bunton, Martin (2009) A History of the Modern Middle East, , Boulder: Westview.

  7. Colin, J. (2018) ‘A Crude History of the Great War,’ History Today.

  8. Donovan, J. (2011) The Iran-Iraq War: Antecedents and conflict escalation, London: Routledge.

  9. Hauk, E. and Muller, H. (2015) ‘Cultural Leaders and the Clash of Civilizations,’ Journal of Conflict Resolution, 59: 3.

  10. Hunwick, J., Seesemann, R. and Vikor, K. (2006) Islam and Colonialism: Intellectual Responses of Muslims of Northern Nigeria to British Colonial Rule, Leiden: Koninklijke Bill NV.

  11. Jacobs, M. F. (2014) ‘World War 1: A War (and Peace?) for the Middle East,’ Diplomatic History, 38: 4.

  12. Khalidi, R. (2009) Sowing Crisis: The COld War and American Dominance in the Middle East, Boston: Beacon Press.

  13. Long, J. M. (2004) Saddam’s War of Words: Politics, Religions, and the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, Austin: University of Texas Press.

  14. Long, W. J. and Brecke, P. (2003) War and Reconciliation: Reason and Emotion in Conflict Resolution, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

  15. Mather, Y. (2014) ‘The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and Current,’ Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory, 42: 3.

  16. Matyok, T., Senehi, J. and Byrne, S. eds. (2011) Critical Issues in Peace and Conflict Studies, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

  17. Media Education Foundation (2005) Edward Said: The Myth of ‘the Clash of Civilizations.’

  18. Milton-Edwards and Hinchcliffe, P. (2001) Conflicts in the Middle East since 1945, New York: Routledge.

  19. Oren, M. B. (2002) Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Making of the Modern Middle East, New York: Oxford University Press.

  20. Ritchie, N. and Rogers, P. (2007) The Political Road to War with Iraq: Bush, 9/11 and the drive to overthrow Saddam, London: Routledge.

  21. Sindawi, K. and Kahana, E. (2015) The Yom Kippur War: The Successes of Israeli Intelligence, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 28: 4.

  22. Siniver, A. (2013) The Yom Kippur War: Politics, Legacy, Diplomacy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  23. Sorli, Mirham E., Gleditsch, N. P., and Strand, H. (2005) ‘Why Is There So Much Conflict in the Middle East?’ Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49: 1.

  24. Ulrichsen, K. C. (2014) The First World War in the Middle East, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  25. Varble, D. (2003) The Suez Crisis 1956, Oxford: Osprey Publishing.


Urls about Course
1. Aljazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2007/09/200852519252884626.html 2. Crisis Group, https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa 3. Global Issues, www.globalissues.org/article/119/the-middle-east-conflict-a-brief-background 4. Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/middle-east-conflict
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