Course Title: America and Middle Eastern Wars

Class Schedule: Lec TTH 1:00-2:30
Office Hours: Thurs. 2:30-3:30
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 exciting course treats the impact and experience of warfare on the Middle East in the last third of the 20th Century and into the 21st. We will examine how the Cold War, Afghanistan, the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the War on Terror have shaped the modern MiddleEast. 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 class participation and attendance (mandatory) and on examinations.

Required texts: (Available at standard outlets and Library Reserves; check Wolverine Access for ISBNs).

Texts:

Michael Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).
Toby Dodge, Iraq: From War to a New Authoritarianism. (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2012)
Seth G. Jones, In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan (New York: W.W. Norton, 2010)

Class Sessions

BACKGROUND

Aug 29 Orientation

THE COLD WAR

Aug. 31 The Cold War and the Middle East

John C. Campbell, "The Soviet Union and the United States in the Middle East," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 401, America and the Middle East (May, 1972), pp. 126-135 JSTOR Stable URL

Weldon C. Matthews, "The Kennedy Administration, Counterinsurgency, and Iraq's first Ba'thist Regime," International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 43, Issue 4. Date: 20111101 Pages: 635-653.

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

Sept. 5 The Islamic Revolution in Iran and Regional Implications

Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran, chapters 2-3
Judith Palmer Harik, "Between Islam and the System: Sources and Implications of Popular Support for Lebanon's Hizballah," The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Nov., 1996), pp. 41-67. JSTOR Stable URL

Sept. 7 Afghanistan Wars and the Fall of the Soviet Union

Nick Cullather, "Damming Afghanistan: Modernization in a Buffer State," The Journal of American History, Vol. 89, No. 2, (Sep., 2002), pp. 512-537, JSTOR Stable URL
Jones, Graveyard, chapters 1-2
Bruce W. Jentleson, "The Reagan Administration and Coercive Diplomacy." Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 106, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 57-82. JSTOR Stable URL

Sept. 12 Reagan and The Saudi Alliance

Harvey Sicherman, "King Fahd's Saudi Arabia," Orbis Vol. 55, Issue 3. Date: 2011 Pages: 481-488.
Jonathan Marshall, "Saudi Arabia and the Reagan Doctrine," Middle East Report, No. 155, (Nov. - Dec., 1988), pp. 12- 17
William Ochsenwald , "Saudi Arabia and The Islamic Revival," International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3. (Aug., 1981), pp. 271-286. [Or keyword search title at Jstor)

Sept. 14 The United States and the Iran-Iraq War

The Iran-Iraq War: The Original Gulf War | Documentary (Watch at home in lieu of lecture)<

Joana Dodds and Ben Wilson, "The Iran-Iraq War: Unattainable Objectives" Middle East Review of International Affairs (Online) Vol. 13, Issue 2 (2009):72-94.

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

HYPERPOWER AMERICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST CHALLENGE

Sept. 19 The Kuwait Crisis in a Post-Soviet Context

Shafeeq Ghabra, "The Iraqi Occupation of Kuwait: An Eyewitness Account," Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Winter, 1991), pp. 112-125

Lauren Holland, "The U.S. Decision to Launch Operation Desert Storm: A Bureaucratic Politics Analysis," Armed Forces & Society Vol. 25, Issue 2. (1999) 219-242.

Sept. 21 The Gulf War, 1991

Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran, pp. 307-313
Grant T. Hammond, "Myths of the Gulf War," Airpower Journal 12.3 (Fall 1998): 6-18. Proquest.
Fred Halliday, "The Gulf War and Its Aftermath: First Reflections," International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-) Vol. 67, Issue 2. Date: 04/01/1991 Pages: 223-234. Jstor

Sept. 26 The Rise of the Jihadis and the Beginnings of al-Qaeda

Ziad Munson, "Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood," The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 487-510 Stable JSTOR URL
William E. Shepard, "Sayyid Qutb's Doctrine of 'Jahiliyya'," International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Nov., 2003), pp. 521-545 Stable JSTOR URL
Saad Eddin Ibrahim. "Egypt's Islamic Activism in the 1980s." Third World Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2, Islam & Politics. (Dec., 1988), pp. 632-657.
Ann M Lesch "Osama Bin Laden: Embedded in the Middle East crises," Middle East Policy, Washington: Jun 2002. Vol. 9, Iss. 2; pg. 82, 10 pgs Stable Proquest URL

Sept. 28 Warlords and Taliban in Afghanistan

Jones, Graveyard, chapters 3-4

THE WAR ON TERROR

Jones, Graveyard, chapter 5
Robert S. Snyder, "Hating America: Bin Laden as a Civilizational Revolutionary," The Review of Politics, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 325-349 JSTOR Stable URL

Jones, Graveyard, chapters 6-8

Oct. 10 Class Review toward Midterm

Oct. 12 Midterm

Oct. 17 No Class: Fall Break.

Oct. 19 The Build-Up to the Iraq War

Amy Gershkoff and Shana Kushner, "Shaping Public Opinion: The 9/11-Iraq Connection in the Bush Administration's Rhetoric," Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 525-537 JSTOR Stable URL
Alex Callinicos, "Iraq: Fulcrum of World Politics," Third World Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 4/5, (2005), pp. 593-608 JSTOR Stable URL
Sukumar Muralidharan, "Intelligence, Incompetence and Iraq: Or, Time to Talk of Democracy, Demography and Israel," Social Scientist, Vol. 32, No. 11/12 (Nov. - Dec., 2004), pp. 21-80 JSTOR Stable URL
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, "The Israel Lobby," London Review of Books, 23 March 2006

Oct. 24 The US Invasion of Iraq

Timothy Garden, "Iraq: The Military Campaign," International Affairs Vol. 79, No. 4 (Jul., 2003), pp. 701-718 JSTOR Stable URL

Eugene J Palka, Francis A Galgano, Mark W Corson. "Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Military Geographical Perspective," Geographical Review. Jul 2005. Vol. 95, Iss. 3; pg. 373, 27 pgs Stable Proquest URL

Oct. 26 The Sunni Arab Guerrilla Insurgency Grows, 2003-2004

Toby Dodge, Chapter 1
Steve Negus, "The Insurgency Intensifies," Middle East Report, No. 232 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 22-27 Stable Jstor URL

Oct. 31 The Rise of the Mahdi Army

Dodge, Iraq, chapter 2
Juan Cole, "The Iraqi Shiites: On the history of America's would-be allies," Boston Review, Fall, 2003

Nov. 2 The Shiites come to Power

Juan Cole, "The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Iraq" ISIM Paper no. 7 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006).
Juan Cole, "Shia Militias in Iraqi Politics," in Iraq: Preventing a New Generation of Conflict, eds. Markus E. Bouillon, David M. Malone, and Ben Roswell, (Boulder, CO, Lynne Rienner, 2007).

Michiel Leezenberg, "Iraqi Kurdistan: Contours of a Post-Civil War Society," Third World Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 4/5, (2005), pp. 631-647 JSTOR Stable URL
Gareth Stansfield, Liam Anderson, "Kurds in Iraq: The Struggle between Baghdad and Erbil," Middle East Policy, Washington: Spring 2009. Vol. 16, Iss. 1; pg. 134ff, 12 pgs. Stable Proquest URL
International Crisis Group, Iraq and the Kurds: Trouble along the Trigger Line , 8 July 2009.

Nov. 9 Surge, al-Maliki, SOFA

Dodge, Iraq, chapters 4-5

Fanar Haddad, "Sectarian Relations in Arab Iraq: Contextualising the Civil War of 2006-2007," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 40, Issue 2. Date: 2013-04-00 Pages: 115-138
Charlotte F Blatt, "Operational success, strategic failure: Assessing the 2007 Iraq Troop Surge, Parameters Vol. 47, Issue 1. Date: 2017.

Nov. 14 Obama and Counter-Insurgency in Afghanistan

Jones, Graveyard, chapters 9-12
Leonard Cutler, "President Barack Obama’s Counterterrorism Strategy and Legacy: The Case of Afghanistan," PS: Political Science & Politics Vol. 50, Issue 1. Date: 2017-01-00 Pages: 59-64. Proquest Stable URL
Muhammad Mazhar and Naheed Goraya, "An Analytical Study of Pak-Us Relations: Post Osama (2011-2012) South Asian Studies 27. 1 (Jan-Jun 2012): 77-87. Proquest Stable URL

Till F. Paasche and Michael M. Gunter, "Revisiting Western Strategies against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," The Middle East Journal Vol. 70, Issue 1. Date: 2016 Pages: 9-29. .
H. M. Sanjeev Kumar, "ISIS and the Sectarian Political Ontology: Radical Islam, Violent Jihadism and the Claims for Revival of the Caliphate," India Quarterly Vol. 74, Issue 2 (2018):119-137.
Ahm. Ershad Uddin, "The Fanatical ISIS through the Lens of Islamic Law," International Journal of Islamic Thought Vol. 12. Date: 20171201 Pages: 1-14.
Dylan O'Driscoll and Dave van Zoonen, "The Future of Iraq: Is Reintegration Possible?" Middle East Policy Vol. 24, Issue 3. Date: Fall 2017 Pages: 34-47.

Nov. 21 US and Rivals in Syria vs. ISIL

Edward Wastnidge, "Iran and Syria: An Enduring Axis,"Middle East Policy Vol. 24, Issue 2. Date: Summer 2017 Pages: 148-159.
Juan Cole, Are Leftist, Feminist Kurds About to Deliver the Coup de Grâce to ISIL in Syria? The Nation June 26, 2015.
Robert Mason, "Russia in Syria: An Unequivocal Return to the Middle East?" Middle East Policy Vol. 25, Issue 4 (2018): 101 - 115
Thomas Juneau "Iran’s costly intervention in Syria: A pyrrhic victory," Mediterranean Politics Volume 25, 2020 - Issue 1.
Lara Aziz, "The Syrian Kurds in the US foreign policy: long-term strategy or tactical ploy?" Centre d’étude des crises et conflits internationaux, No 66, January 2020.

Nov. 28 Trump and the Middle East

Michael M. Gunter and M. Hakan Yavuz, "The October 2019 Turkish Incursion into Kurdish Syria: Its Background & Broader Implications," Middle East Policy Volume 27, Issue 1 (Spring 2020):86-101
Charles J. Sullivan, "White Flags: On the Return of the Afghan Taliban and the Fate of Afghanistan," Asian Affairs, 52:2 (2021): 273-287
Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran, chapter 7
B. Kondoch, "The Killing of General Quassem Soleimani: Legal and Policy Issues," Journal of East Asia & International Law, [s. l.], v. 13, n. 2 (2020): 419–433.

Nov. 30 Iran; Nuclear Issue and Ukraine War

Richard Dalton, "The Iran Nuclear Negotiations: One Year On,"Asian Affairs Vol. 47, Issue 3. Date: 9/1/2016 Pages: 351-365.
Juan Cole, "Missed Opportunities: The Trump Administration, Iran, and the Coronavirus Pandemic," Qatar University Gulf Insights Series Nº 31 –June 2020.
Maryam Nawaz and Kishwar Munir, "Securitizing The Iran Nuclear Deal: A Comparative Analysis Of Us Foreign Policy Under Obama, Trump And Biden (2015-2022),," Global Foreign Policies Review, Vol. VI, No. I (Winter 2023) Pages: 78– 88
Satcha de Henning Michaëlis, "Turkey’s And Iran’s Drone Supply In The War In Ukraine," Policy Report, Network for Strategic Analysis, Queen's University, Canada, January 2023 - Issue 21

Dec. 5: Review toward Exam

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.

WebMaster: Juan R.I. Cole