Describe the forces that have shaped international politics in the Middle East after WWII.

This CAT aims to describe the forces that have shaped international politics in the Middle East after WWII. This CAT analyses post WWII bipolar international system and its impact on the Middle East. We learn about the nature and characteristics of this system that lasted from the end of WWII to 1991. We study how Middle Eastern responded to this “choatic” International environament. In so doing we examine their core ideological project, nationalism, and formation of regional alliances. This include study of the Arab League, Central Treaty Organization or Baghdad Pact, and Gulf Cooperation Council  (GCC). Finally, we assessed success and failures of these groupings in achieving their aims.

Objectives and competencies
To shed light on the nature and characteristics of the Cold War International Relations
To explore how that system impacted the Middle East
To analyze regional structures and alliances, namely Arab League, 1945, Baghdad Pac, 1955, and Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC 1981

Reading Material
Read the following chapters from the “International Relations of the Middle East” book edited by Louise Fawcett:
Chapter 4: The Middle East since the Cold War: the multi-layerd (in)security dilemma
Chapter 6: The puzzle of political reform n the Middle East
Chapter 9: Alliances and regionalism in the Middle East
Chapter 11: Foreign policymaking in the Middle East: Complex Realism
Chapter 12: The Arab-Israeli Conflict
Study Guide – Unit 2
Related articles
Fox, J. and Shmuel Sandler. (2005). Separation of Religion and State in the Twenty-First Century: Comparing the Middle East and Western Democracies. Comparative Politics, Vol. 37 , No. 3 (Apr., 2005), pp. 317-335

Fox, J. (2013). Religious Discrimination against Religious Minorities in Middle Eastern Muslim States, Civil Wars, 15:4, 545-470, DOI: 10.1080/13698249.2013.853413.

Khalidi, R. (1991). Arab Nationalism: Historical Problems in the Literature. Oxford University Press, The American Historical Review, Vol. 96, No. 5 (Dec. 1991), pp. 1363-1373.

Smith, D. (1997). Imagined Identities, Imagined Nationalisms: Print Culture and Egyptian Nationalism in Light of Recent Scholarship. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 29(4), 607–622.

Instructions
Part 1: answer 15 “true/false” propositions. After choosing the right option, offer a short explanation for your choice.
Part 2: includes five questions. Here you will be required to offer some analysis of the articles and chapter you have read.