Department of history University of Michigan
History 241
Fall 2009
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 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 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 Ulrich's and at Reserve Reading Room, 3rd Floor, Shapiro Undergraduate Library).
Optional coursepack at Dollar Bill's, 611 Church St.
Texts:
Ali M. Ansari, Confronting 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).
Bing West, The Strongest Tribe: War,Politics and the Endgame in Iraq (New York: Random House, 2008).
Class Sessions
BACKGROUND
Sept. 8 Orientation
THE COLD WAR
Sept. 10 The Cold War as a Framework for Middle Eastern Wars, 1946-1991
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
Ansari, pp. 7-43
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. 22 Reagan and The Saudi Alliance
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
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 (Mar., 1996), pp. 41-67. JSTOR Stable URL
Hiro, War, pp. 113-178Sept. 24 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
Sept. 29 The Kuwait Crisis in a Post-Soviet Context
Ansari, pp.128-137Oct. 1 The Gulf War, 1991
Marr, pp. 217-235
Marr, pp. 235-280Oct. 6 The Rise of the Jihadis and the Beginnings of al-Qaeda
Hiro, pp. 59-112, 267-299
Oct. 8 Warlords and Taliban in Afghanistan
Hiro, 225-264THE WAR ON TERROR
Oct. 13 Al-Qaeda and September 11
Hiro, pp. 300-335Oct 15 The Unseating of the Taliban in 2001-2002
Hiro, pp. 335-372Oct. 20 Fall Break
Oct. 22 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
Cole, "The Lies that Led to War", Salon, May 19, 2005
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, "The Israel Lobby," London Review of Books, 23 March 2006
Timothy Garden, "Iraq: The Military Campaign," International Affairs Vol. 79, No. 4 (Jul., 2003), pp. 701-718 JSTOR Stable URL
Marr, pp. 281-308
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
Toby Dodge, "Iraqi Transitions: From Regime Change to State Collapse," Third World Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 4/5, (2005), pp. 705-721 JSTOR Stable URL
West, Strongest Tribe, pp. 1-28, 55-63
Steve Negus, "The Insurgency Intensifies," Middle East Report, No. 232 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 22-27 Stable Jstor URL
Juan Cole, "The Reelection of Bush and the Fate of Iraq" Constellations Vol. 12, no. 2 (2005) (at Course Tools)
.
Roel Meijer, "The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq," Middle East Report, No. 237 (Winter, 2005), pp. 12-19 JSTOR stable URL
Nov. 5 Midterm
West, Strongest Tribe, pp. 28-55Nov. 12 Shiite-Ruled Iraq and Civil War
Articles by Juan Cole:
"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 (at Proquest, Ctools)
"Portrait of a Rebellion." In These Times. May 24, 2004.
"The New Improved, Iraq." In These Times, June 22, 2004.
West, Strongest Tribe, pp. 84-105, 113-172Nov. 17 Surge, al-Maliki, SOFA and the End of American Iraq
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 Proquest Stable URL
West, Strongest Tribe, 227-251, 273-308,325-360Nov. 19 The Kurdistan Question and Post-Baath Iraq
Ned Parker, "Machiavelli in Mesopotamia: Nouri al-Maliki Builds the Body Politic," World Policy Journal Spring 2009, Vol. 26, No. 1, Pages 17-25
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 URLNov. 24 Iran, the Nuclear Issue, and Election Protests
Gareth Stansfield, Liam Anderson, "Kurds in Iraq: The Struggle between Baghdad and Erbil," Middle East Policy, Washington: Spring 2009. Vol. 16, Iss. 1; pg. 134, 12 pgs. Stable Proquest URL
International Crisis Group, Iraq and the Kurds: Trouble along the Trigger Line , 8 July 2009.
Ansari, pp. 165-232Dec. 1 The Resurgence of the Taliban and Obama's Policy
Pamela Constable, "A Wake-up Call in Afghanistan," Journal of Democracy. Baltimore: Apr 2007. Vol. 18, Iss. 2. Ctools.Dec. 3 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
Gilles Dorronsoro, "The Taliban's Winning Strategy in Afghanistan," Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, June, 2009.
Matthew J Nelson, "Pakistan in 2008: Moving beyond Musharraf," Asian Survey Berkeley: Jan/Feb 2009. Vol. 49, Iss. 1; p. 16 (12 pages) Stable Proquest URL.Dec. 8 film
Sharad Joshi, "Is Pakistan Appeasing the Taliban?" Foreign Policy in Focus, June 13, 2008
Nasreen Akhtar, "Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Taliban," International Journal on World Peace, New York: Dec 2008. Vol. 25, Iss. 4; pg. 49, 25 pgs Stable Proquest URL
Anita Demkiv, "Pakistan's FATA, Transnational Terrorism and the Global Development Model," Journal of Global Change and Governance ? Volume II, Number 1 ? Winter/Spring 2009, pp. 1-20.
Mustafa Malik, "Pakistan: Can U.S. Policy Save the Day?" Middle East Policy, Washington: Summer 2009. Vol. 16, Iss. 2; pg. 138, 11 pgs Stable Proquest URL.
Dec. 10 Class Review
Dec. Final Exam