Course module - The Middle East and the Cold War
Code : MEST20732 Credit rating: 20 Semester : 2
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Aims |
Objectives |
Assessment |
Information
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Course Content |
Course Materials |
Tutors |
Timetable |
Teaching Methods |
Keywords
Aims
To enable the students to acquire a thoroough understanding how superpower rivalry on a global scale between 1945-1990 affected the Middle East and comprehend the decision-making of both the USA and th USSR in key moments of confrontation in the Middle East, such as the Suez Canal crisis, the Six Day War or the Iran-Iraq war.
Objectives (Learning Outcomes)
By the end of this course students should be able to:
- analyse the foreign policy of both the USA and the USSR with reference to the Middle East between 1945 and 1990.
- engage in the critical assessment of the secondary literature and certain primary sources pertaining to the Cold War in the Middle East.
- engage in the production of short verbal presentations during seminars as well as the presentation of analysis, argument and independent judgment in essay form. Successfully answering exam questions.
• the analysis of complex issues, arguments and debates;
• the close, critical reading of documents and texts;
• the making of short verbal presentations to seminars;
• the presentation of analysis, argument and independent judgment in essay form.
Employability: The above-listed skills are amongst the requirements for any type of graduate employment. The subject-specific knowledge and skills can enhance employability for those seeking jobs in fields where mastery of the contmporary history of the Middle East in its interdepndence with world affairs is an asset such as a teaching, international co-operation and development, diplomacy, the military, security and intelligence, and intenational business with a M/E focus, especially the oil and gas sector.
Assessment
Oral presentation in class (20 minutes) - 20%
Essay (2,500 words) - 40%
Written exam (one hour fifteen minutes) - 40%
Feedback: oral feedback on group presentation; written feedback on essay; additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or by making an appointment).
Information
Level: 2
Pre-requisite: None
Available to all students
Course Content
The course aims to explore the impact of the Cold War on the Middle East, 1945-1990, and of Middle Eastern events on the course and development of the Cold War, with particular focus on the interactions between superpower rivalries and conflicts in the Middle East region. It surveys the unfolding of the Cold War in the Middle East, and its complex relations with the decline of European colonialism, the rise of nationalisms in the region, and intra-regional conflict. Consideration is also given to the global strategic significance of the Middle East region, and the ways in which this evolved during the half-century studied.
The course is divided into five topics, each of which containing two lectures, one tutorial and two seminar sessions. The tentative schedule is as follows:
Topic 1: The biginnings of the Cold War, 1945-1955
Topic 2: Nasser, the USSR and th USA: 1956-1967
Topic 3: Détente, 1968-1978
Topic 4: The 'Second Cold War', 1979-1988
Topic 5: The aftermath of the Cold War
Round up/revision
Course Materials
Tutor(s)
Randjbar-Daemi, Siavush
Timetable
Tuesday 9.00 (lecture/seminar)
Tuesday 11.00 (lecture weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
Tuesday 15.00 (tutorial)
Teaching Methods
12 one-hour lectures covering new topics, and core course content.
6 one-hour tutorials with focus on key aspects of the lectures through an examination of primary-source material.
12 one-hour seminars during which students will present oral presetnations and engage in class discussion.
Preliminary reading
Ashton, John (Editor), The Cold War in the Middle East, Routledge, 2007
Barrett, Roy, The greater Middle East and the Cold War: US foreign policy under Eisenhower and Kennedy, (London, IB Tauris, 2010).
J. L. Gaddis, The Long Peace, (Oxford, OUP, 1987).
J.L. Gaddis, The Cold War, (London, Penguin, 2007).
J. L. Gaddis, We now know: Rethinking Cold War history, (Oxford, Clarendon, 1997);
Richard Crockatt, The Fifty Years' War, (London, Routledge, 1995)
Bruce R. Kuniholm, The Origins of the Cold War in the Near East, (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980)
William Roger Louis, The British Empire in the Middle East 1945-1951, (Oxford, Clarendon, 1984);
William Roger Louis and Roger Owen (eds.), Suez 1956: the crisis and its consequences, (Oxford, Clarendon, 1989)
Kirsten Schulze, The Arab-Israeli Conflict, (London, Longmans, 1999)