GPOL 5124 -

Institution:

The New School

Subject:

Description:

The Middle East: Paradoxes of Modernity & Democracy Spring 2009. Three credits. John VanderLippe In the modern era, the Middle East has been shaped by three great forces: Western domination; expansion of modern states and militaries; and popular demands for sovereignty, autonomy, inclusion, and justice. State-sponsored reform movements, ranging from the Ottoman Tanzimat (Reorganization) to Kemalism, Nasserism and Ba'thism, to Islamism, have responded to exogenous and indigenous pressures with attempts to modernize political, economic, and cultural institutions. But herein lays the paradox of modernity and democracy: statist reform movements have produced powerful bureaucracies and large militaries, but have failed to overcome economic stagnation or lead to democratic, egalitarian, just, and free societies, thus calling into question assumptions that modernity and democracy are intrinsically linked. Beginning with an examination of Western and Muslim writers' views on state and society, this course explores historical relations between the Middle East and West; development of modern states and militaries in Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq; and intellectual and popular resistance movements, to explore answers to the question: Is democracy possible in the 21st century Middle East Cross-listed as GHIS 5124.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.newschool.edu

Phone Number:

(212) 229-5600

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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