International Relations of the Modern Middle East (L2065S)

30 credits, Level 6

Spring teaching

Why is the Middle East so unstable? Why are there so many authoritarian states in the Middle East? What is political Islam? How do Middle Eastern women challenge patriarchy? This module examines contemporary politics and society in the Middle East through a three-dimensional international, social and historical approach.

You will:

• examine the problem of Eurocentrism in studying the Middle East
• study the social and international contexts and outcomes of modern state-formation in the Middle East
• conduct in-depth analyses of three major contemporary issues in the region: the Kurdish Question, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iranian Revolution.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 267 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.