Department of History University of Michigan
History 241 Fall 2008
SYLLABUS
Course Title: America and Middle Eastern Wars
Class Schedule: Lec TTH 2:30-4:00
Office Hours: 2527 Haven Hall, Thurs. 1:30-2:30 and by appt.
Instructor: Juan Cole
Telephone: 764-6305; e-mail: j r c o l e /at/ u m i c h /dot/ e d u
This course treats the impact and experience of warfare on the Middle East in the second half of the 20th Century and into the 21st. We will examine how the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli Wars, Afghanistan, the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the War on Terror have shaped the modern Middle East. We will consider political and social history as well as the military aspect. We will also look at the causes for Washington policy-making toward the region. Grading is based upon a midterm and a final.
Required texts: (Available at Shaman Drum, 313 S. State St., tel. 662-7407, and at Reserve Reading Room, 3rd Floor, Shapiro Undergraduate Library).
Coursepack at Dollar Bill's, 611 Church St.
Texts:
Ali M. Ansari, Conftonting Iran (New York: Basic Books, 2006).
Dilip Hiro, War without End (London: Routledge, 2005).
Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq (Boulder, Co.: Westview,
2004).
Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (New York: The Penguin Press, 2006)
Bob Woodward. Bush at War. (New York: Simon and Shuster, 2002).
Class Sessions
BACKGROUND
Sept. 2 Orientation
Sept. 4 The Formation of the Modern Middle East
Coursepack: The Remaking of the Near East, pp. 301-401?
Marr, Modern History of Iraq, pp. 21-49
Hiro, War, pp. 3-56THE COLD WAR AND DECOLONIZATION
Sept. 9 The Cold War as a Framework for Middle Eastern Wars, 1946-1991
Coursepack: The Middle East, the Great Powers, and the Cold War, pp. 6-26
Ansari, pp. 7-43
Ian Lustick, "Changing Rationales for Political Violence in the Arab-Israeli Conflict," Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 54-79; stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2537322
Georges Corm,"Thoughts on the Roots of the Arab-Israeli Conflict," Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3, (Spring, 1992), pp. 71-79; Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2537520
Douglas Little, "The Making of a Special Relationship: The United States and Israel, 1957-68." International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 25, No. 4. (Nov., 1993), pp. 563-585. JSTOR Stable URL
Hiro, War, pp. 179-225
Bruce W. Jentleson, "The Reagan Administration and Coercive Diplomacy." Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 106, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 57-82. JSTOR Stable URL
Ansari, chapter 3Sept. 23 The Lebanon, the Israelis and the Marines
Avi Shlaim, "The Impact of U.S. Policy in the Middle East.." Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2. (Winter, 1988), pp. 15-28. JSTOR Stable URL
Augustus Richard Norton, "Changing Actors and Leadership among the Shiites of Lebanon." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 482, (Nov., 1985), pp. 109-121. JSTOR Stable URL
Hiro, War, pp. 113-178Sept. 30 The United States and the Iran-Iraq War
Ansari, pp. 93-128HYPERPOWER AMERICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST CHALLENGE
Marr, pp. 139-215
Jack Colhoun, "Washington Watch: How Bush Backed Iraq." Middle East Report, No. 176, Iraq in the Aftermath. (May - Jun., 1992), pp. 35-37 JSTOR Stable URL
Oct. 14 Warlords and Taliban in Afghanistan
Oct 16 Al-Qaeda and September 11
Oct. 23 Pakistan, Diplomacy and the Taliban
Dec. Final Exam
Ansari, pp.128-137
Marr, pp. 217-235
Oct. 7 The Gulf War, 1991
Marr, pp. 235-280
Oct. 9 The Rise of the Jihadis and the Beginnings of al-Qaeda
Hiro, pp. 59-112, 267-299
Hiro, 225-264
THE WAR ON TERROR Hiro, pp. 300-335
Oct. 21 Fall Break
Woodward, Bush at War, pp. 139-237
Oct. 28 Class Review
Oct. 30 Midterm
Nov. 4 The Afghanistan War
Woodward, Bush at War, pp. 238-322
Hiro, pp. 335-372
Nov. 6 The Build-Up to the Iraq War
Woodward, Bush at War, pp. 322-352.
Nov. 11 The Iraq War
Ricks, Fiasco, pp. 35-111.
Cole, "The Lies that Led to War", Salon, May 19, 2005 Ricks, Fiasco, pp. 115-188
Nov. 13 The Sunni Arab Guerrilla Insurgency Grows, 2003-2004
Marr, pp. 281-308 Ricks, Fiasco, pp. 189-274, 330-385
Nov. 18 The Rise of the Mahdi Army
Ahmed Hashim, "The Sunni Insurgency in Iraq."
Middle East Institute Perspective. August 15, 2003
Juan Cole, "The Reelection of Bush and the Fate of Iraq" Constellations Vol. 12, no. 2 (2005) (at Course Tools)
. Articles by Juan Cole:
Nov. 20 Shiite-Ruled Iraq
"The Iraqi Shiites: On the history of Americas would-be allies," Boston Review, Fall, 2003
"The United States and Shiite Religious Factions in Post-Bathist Iraq,"The Middle East Journal, Volume 57, Number 4, Autumn 2003, pp. 543-566
"Portrait of a Rebellion." In These Times. May 24, 2004.
"The New Improved, Iraq." In These Times, June 22, 2004.
Ricks, Fiasco, 413-439
Nov. 25 Iran and the Nuclear Issue
Juan Cole, "The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Iraq" ISIM Paper no. 7 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006).
  James D. Fearon" Iraq's Civil War," Foreign Affairs, March/April 2007
Ansari, pp. 165-232
Dec. 2 The Resurgence of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda
Pamela Constable, "A Wake-up Call in Afghanistan," Journal of Democracy. Baltimore: Apr 2007. Vol. 18, Iss. 2. Ctools.
Dec. 4 Crisis in Pakistan
Barnett R. Rubin, "Saving Afghanistan," Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007
Seth G. Jones, "Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan," RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Volume 4, (June 2008), pp. 29-86
Tariq Ali, Afghanistan: mirage of the good war,
New Left Review, 6 May 2008
Daniel Markey, "A False Choice in Pakistan" Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007
Dec. 9 Class Review
Juan Cole, "With Bhutto Gone, Does Bush have a Plan B?", Salon, Dec. 27, 2007.
Juan Cole, "Pakistan Turns Scary for Bush's War on Terror," Salon, Feb. 30, 2008
Sharad Joshi, "Is Pakistan Appeasing the Taliban?" Foreign Policy in Focus, June 13, 2008
Return to Juan R.I. Cole Syllabi.
WebMaster: Juan R.I. Cole