Course Title: Modern Middle East History            Office Hours: M 2:30 - -3:30

Instructor: Juan Cole                   e-mail: jrcole (umich domain)

The modern Middle East has been one of the more dynamic and geo-politically crucial areas of the world. This exciting course covers the past two centuries and right up to the present. It treats not just high politics but the compelling stories of the people at all levels of society--including women, peasant farmers and workers--who made this history. It deals with Ottoman reformist attempts to meet the European challenge, the age of British and French colonialism, the rise of nationalism, development strategies of socialism and capitalism, the impact of Israeli and Palestinian nationalism, the petroleum factor, the emergence of Muslim fundamentalism, the Islamic Revolution in Iran, upheavals in Iraq, and the US war on terror. Grading is based upon class attendance at both lecture and section (required), a midterm, and a final. Persistent non-attendance will result in failure.

Required texts:

Ervand Abrahamian. A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

James Gelvin. The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, rev.edn. 2014).

Robert L. Tignor. Egypt: A Short History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).

Lecture Topics

Jan. 11            Orientation

Part One: Background to the Modern Middle East

Jan. 16            Background: The Early Modern Ottoman Empire and the Arab World


John O. Voll, “Islam,” Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, 2010. p1381-1388.

Tignor, Egypt, chap. 6, 8

Zurcher, ch. 1

Part Two: Economic Transformation and Bureaucratic Reform 1800-1914

Jan. 18             Ottoman Reform to World War I


Zurcher, pp. 30-111

Jan. 23             From Ottoman Egypt to British Egypt


Tignor, Egypt, chap. 9

Elizabeth Sirriyeh,"Wahhabis, Unbelievers and the Problems of Exclusivism." Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2. (1989), pp. 123-132.

F. Robert Hunter, "State-Society Relations in Nineteenth-Century Egypt: The Years of Transition, 1848-79," Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jul., 2000), pp. 145-159

Jan. 25            The Levant in the 19th Century


Leila Fawaz, "The City and the Mountain: Beirut's Political Radius in the Nineteenth Century as Revealed in the Crisis of 1860 International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4. (Nov., 1984), pp. 489-495.

Gelvin, chaps. 1-2

Nabil al-Tikriti, (2007) "Ottoman Iraq," (2007), Ottoman Iraq. Journal of The Historical Society, 7: 201-211

Jan. 30             Iran: Qajars to the Constitutional Revolution


Abrahamian, Modern Iran, pp. 1-62

Part Three: The Rise of Nationlism

Feb. 1             Turkey: Kemalism to 1950


Zurcher, Turkey, pp. 111-205

Feb. 6             Egypt from Monarchy to Republic


Tignor, Egypt, chaps. 10-11

Feb. 8             Iraq: Colonialism, Monarchy and Revolution


Güldem Baykal Büyüksaraç, (2015) " Unheard voices: state-making and popular participation in post-Ottoman Iraq," Ethnic and Racial Studies 38, 14, pp. 2551-2568.

Juan Cole, "Iraq in 1939: British Alliance or Nationalist Neutrality toward the Axis?" Britain and the World. Volume 5, No. 2 (2012):204-222

Orit Bashkin, (2011) " HYBRID NATIONALISMS: WAṬANĪ AND QAWMĪ VISIONS IN IRAQ UNDER ʿABD AL-KARIM QASIM, 1958–61," International Journal of Middle East Studies, 43, 2, pp. 293-312

Feb. 13             Rise of Israel and Palestinian Response


Gelvin, Israel-Palestine, 76-145

Feb. 15             Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict


Gelvin, Israel-Palestine, 145-197

Feb. 20             Class Discusssion

Feb. 22             Midterm Examination

Feb. 24- March 3             Spring Break


Part Four: Postcolonial States and Movements

Mar. 5             Iran: Capitalist Dictatorship

Abrahamian, Modern Iran, pp. 63-154

Mar. 7             Israel and Palestine 1967-1984


Gelvin, Israel-Palestine, 198-230


Mar. 12             Turkey: Militarism versus Democracy, 1950-1990


Zurcher, Turkey, pp. 206-287

Mar. 14             Baathist Iraq


John F. Devlin, " The Baath Party: Rise and Metamorphosis," The American Historical Review, Vol. 96, No. 5 (Dec., 1991), pp. 1396-1407

Robert Springborg, "Infitah, Agrarian Transformation, and Elite Consolidation in Contemporary Iraq," Middle East Journal, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Winter, 1986), pp. 33-52

Part Five: Globalization: Nationalism, Imperialism, Fundamentalism

Mar. 19             Petroleum Revolutions in the Middle East


Gwenn Okruhlik , "Rentier Wealth, Unruly Law, and the Rise of Opposition: The Political Economy of Oil States," : Comparative Politics, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Apr., 1999), pp. 295-315. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/pdfplus/422341.pdf

Gerd Nonneman, " Saudi-European Relations 1902-2001: A Pragmatic Quest for Relative Autonomy," International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs Vol. 77, No. 3, Changing Patterns of European Security and Defence (Jul., 2001), pp. 631-661

Roy Licklider, "The Power of Oil: The Arab Oil Weapon and the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and the United States," International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1988), pp. 205-226

Mar. 21             The Rise of (Sunni) Political Islam


William Ochsenwald , "Saudi Arabia and The Islamic Revival," International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3. (Aug., 1981), pp. 271-286.

Saad Eddin Ibrahim. "Egypt's Islamic Activism in the 1980s." Third World Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2, Islam & Politics. (Apr., 1988), pp. 632-657.

Ziad Abu-Amr. "Hamas: A Historical and Political Background." Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 22, No. 4. (Summer, 1993), pp. 5-19

Andrew Hartman. 'The Red Template': US Policy in Soviet-Occupied Afghanistan. Third World Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 3. (Jun., 2002), pp. 467-489.

Mar. 26             Iran: Revolution and Islamic Republic


Abrahamian, Modern Iran, pp. 155-195

Mar. 28             Nationalism and Sectarianism in Lebanon and Syria


Elaine C. Hagopian. "Maronite Hegemony to Maronite Militancy: The Creation and Disintegration of Lebanon." Third World Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 4, Ethnicity in World Politics. (Oct., 1989), pp. 101-117.

Dona J. Stewart. "Economic Recovery and Reconstruction in Postwar Beirut." Geographical Review, Vol. 86, No. 4. (Oct., 1996), pp. 487-504.

Augustus Richard Norton, "Hizballah and the Israeli Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon," Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Autumn, 2000), pp. 22-35.

Eyal Zisser, "Rethinking Syrian nationalism: national identity and state in Syria, from the ‘struggle for Syria’ to the Syrian civil war," Middle Eastern Studies 58:3 (2022):421-434.

Apr. 2             Failure of Oslo and Apartheid Israel


Gelvin, Israel-Palestine, 231-268

Apr. 4             Egypt: Mubarak, Arab Spring, al-Sisi (Film)


NO CLASS TODAY: Watch "Tahrir : Liberation Square" online via Mirlyn (login then click on the link and go to the bottom of the page, then click "available online")

Tignor, Chap. 12

Fatuma Ahmed Ali & Hannah Muthoni Macharia (2013) "Women, Youth, and the Egyptian Arab Spring," Peace Review, 25:3, 359-366

Markus Holdo (2017) Post-Islamism and fields of contention after the Arab Spring: feminism, Salafism and the revolutionary youth," Third World Quarterly, 38:8, 1800-1815


Apr. 9             Turkey 1990- : Capitalism, Ethnic Conflict and Islam


Zurcher, Turkey, pp. 287- end

H Bahadir Türk "‘Populism as a medium of mass mobilization’: The case of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ," International Area Studies Review, Volume: 21 issue: 2(June 1, 2018): 150-168
Jeremy Salt, "Turkey's Counterrevolution: Notes from the Dark Side," Middle East Policy Volume 22, Issue 1, 09 March 2015



Apr. 11             The Islamic Republic of Iran in the Middle East

Hanlie Booysen, "Martyrs as a conduit for legitimacy – explaining Iran’s foreign policy towards Syria," Third World Quarterly, 42, 10 (2021):2469-2485.
Afshon Ostovar, "Iran, its clients, and the future of the Middle East: the limits of religion"". International Affairs, v. 94, n. 6 (2018):1237–1255.
Hassan Ahmadian and Payam Mohseni. "From Detente to Containment: The Emergence of Iran’s New Saudi Strategy." International Affairs, 97, 3 (2021):779–799.

Apr. 16             The Oil Gulf Dominates the Middle East


Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, "Thriving Gulf Cities Emerge as New Centers of Arab World," Al Monitor, October 8, 2013

Bárbara Azaola Piazza "The foreign policy of post-Mubarak Egypt andthe strengthening of relations with Saudi Arabia," The Journal of North African Studies, 24:3, 401-425.

Guido Steinberg, "Regional power United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi is no longer Saudi Arabia's junior partner," Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) Paper No. 10 (Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit, July, 2020)

Apr. 18             Israel, Palestine, Iran and Regional Conflict


Joel Beinin, " From Gaza to Jerusalem to Iran: Shifts in the Middle East and the Place of Palestine," Middle East 4 Change, July 23, 2018.

Marie Ladier-Fouladi, " Iran-Iraq Relations and Pan-Shia Strategies," 2022. Hal-03913440. (Download).

Seyed Ali Alavi, " The Para-Diplomacy of the Palestinian Islamic Movements towards Iran in Post-Arab Spring Era; A Strategic Connection beyond ideological Chemistry," Eprints, SOAS, 22 June, 2023.

Apr. 23 Class Review

Academic Integrity Policy: History 241 follows the academic integrity guidelines set forth by the College of LSA and the History Department. Students should familiarize themselves with both of these documents, which explain the standards of academic integrity and clarify the prohibited forms of academic misconduct. Students in History 241 should utilize the Chicago Manual of Style Online for all issues of source citation, along with any specific guidelines provided in the course assignments. Clarifying the disciplinary standards of research ethics and source citation is part of the educational mission of this course, and students should consult the faculty instructor and/or GSI regarding any questions. The penalties for deliberate cases of plagiarism and/or other forms of academic misconduct are a failing grade on the assignment. Cases that the instructor judges to be particularly serious, or those in which the student contests the charge of academic misconduct, will be handled by the office of the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education. All cases of deliberate academic misconduct that result in formal sanctions of any kind will be reported to the dean’s office, as required by LSA policy, which also ensures due process rights of appeal for students.

Syllabus online here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/syl/war/war.htm

Return to Juan R.I. Cole Syllabi.

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