Insights from Stanford Scholars and Other Experts
Wednesdays, 7:00 - 8:30 pm (PT) • 10 weeks • April 2 – June 4
For decades, we tended to think about the Middle East as a region of the world perpetually trailing behind the arc of history—unable to arrive at democracy, economic interdependence, cooperative regionalism, and peace. But what if the Middle East is not a laggard, but a laboratory for 21st-century geopolitics? What if we approach the Middle East through a different lens, as an arena where global and regional powers (United States, Russia, China, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, etc.) compete to shape a new political order, offering us invaluable insights into the possible futures of global politics?
This course will explore the actors, trends, and dynamics that created the modern Middle East and shape it today and provide possible scenarios for the future. Featuring experts from across Stanford and other institutions, the course starts with a historical overview of the formation of the modern Middle East. It will also analyze the role of states, authoritarianism, and violent non-state actors in the region. The course will then examine how various countries—Egypt, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey, for example—approach the deep transformations taking place in the Middle East. Toward the end of the course, we will consider scenarios for the future, including how the Middle East intersects with broader changes in the international system. Finally, we will discuss prospects for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and evaluate whether the current tumult for the Middle East could create unexpected opportunities for broader regional peace.
| Register Now » |
Course Instructor
Amichai Magen
Visiting Professor and Fellow in Israel Studies, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford
Amichai Magen is a visiting professor in political science and a visiting fellow in Israel studies at Stanford. He is a senior lecturer, head of the MA Program in Diplomacy & Conflict Studies, and director of the Program on Democratic Resilience and Development at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy at Reichman University in Israel. He received the Yitzhak Rabin Fulbright Award (2003), served as a predoctoral fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution. In 2016, he was named Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy. Magen is a member of the board of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations and the International Coalition for Democratic Renewal.
Schedule
Session 1: How the Modern Middle East Emerged
Ali YaycıoğluDirector, the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford
Ali Yaycıoğlu is a historian specializing in the history of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, and modern Turkey. His research focuses on different dimensions of political, economic, and legal institutions and practices, as well as the social and cultural dynamics of the 18th and 19th centuries. Yaycıoğlu is the co-editor of the Stanford Ottoman World Series: Critical Studies in Empire, Nature and Knowledge and he oversees a digital history project, Mapping Ottoman Epirus, housed in Stanford's Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis.
Session 2: Statehood and Political Regimes in the Middle East
Lisa BlaydesProfessor in Political Science and Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford
Lisa Blaydes is the author of State of Repression: Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Elections and Distributive Politics in Mubarak's Egypt. She received the 2009 Gabriel Almond Award for best dissertation in the field of comparative politics from the American Political Science Association. Her articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Middle East Journal, and World Politics. She was an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, and she received a PhD in political science from UCLA.
Session 3: The Liberal International Order and the Middle East
Amichai MagenVisiting Professor and Fellow in Israel Studies, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford
Amichai Magen is a visiting professor in political science and a visiting fellow in Israel studies at Stanford. He is a senior lecturer, head of the MA Program in Diplomacy & Conflict Studies, and director of the Program on Democratic Resilience and Development at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy at Reichman University in Israel.
Session 4:The Sunni-Shi'a Rift and Its Geopolitical Implications: Lebanon as Laboratory?
Hanin GhaddarSenior Fellow, Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics, Washington Institute
Hanin Ghaddar's research focuses on Shia politics, Hezbollah, and Lebanon. The longtime managing editor of Lebanon's NOW news website, Ghaddar shed light on a broad range of cutting-edge issues, from the evolution of Hezbollah inside Lebanon's fractured political system to Iran's growing influence throughout the Middle East. Prior to joining NOW, Ghaddar wrote for the Lebanese newspapers As-Safir, An-Nahar, and Al-Hayat, and also worked as a researcher for the United Nations Development Program regional office. She is the author of the book Hezbollahland.
Session 5: Militant Islamism and Violent Non-State Actors in the Middle East
Cole BunzelHoover Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford
Cole Bunzel is a historian of the contemporary Middle East, specializing in the history of the Arabian Peninsula, Islamic theology and law, and modern Islamic radicalism. He is the author of the book Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement and has published extensively on militant Islamist groups such as al-Qaida, ISIS, and Hamas. He received a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton and has held fellowships with Yale Law School and George Washington University's Program on Extremism.
Session 6: Egypt in a Transforming Middle East
Hesham SallamSenior Research Scholar, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford
Hesham Sallam serves as associate director for research at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. He is also the associate director of the Program on Arab Reform and Development. He is the author of Classless Politics: Islamist Movements, the Left, and Authoritarian Legacies in Egypt, co-editor of Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World, and editor of Egypt's Parliamentary Elections 2011-2012: A Critical Guide to a Changing Political Arena. Sallam received a PhD in government from Georgetown.
Session 7: The View from Ankara: Turkey Between East and West?
Ayça AlemdaroğluAssociate Director, Program on Turkey, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford
Ayça Alemdaroğlu is a research scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. She is also a global fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. As a political sociologist, she explores social and political inequalities and changes in Turkey and the Middle East. She serves on the editorial committee of the Middle East Report. She received a PhD in sociology from the University of Cambridge.
Session 8: Iran's Middle East
Abbas MilaniDirector, Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies, Stanford
Abbas Milani is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and was a founding co-director of the Iran Democracy Project. His expertise is in U.S.-Iran relations as well as Iranian cultural, political, and security issues. He has taught at Tehran University's Faculty of Law and Political Science, where he was also a member of the board of directors of the university's Center for International Relations. He was the chair of the Political Science Department at Notre Dame de Namur University for 14 years.
Session 9: Israel, the Middle East, and Great Power Competition in the 21st Century
Benjamin MillerProfessor of International Relations, University of Haifa
Benjamin Miller is the director of the National Security Center at the University of Haifa. He is the recipient of the Provost Prize for a Distinguished Senior Researcher for 2020. His current book project focuses on explaining war and peace in the 21st century. Miller received a PhD from UC Berkeley and has held research fellowships at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and McGill University. He served for many years as the President of the Israeli Association for International Studies.
Session 10: Palestinian Politics and New Prospects for Regional Peace
Ghaith al-OmariRosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Senior Fellow, Washington Institute
Ghaith al-Omari is the former executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine. He served as advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team during the 1999–2001 permanent-status talks, in addition to holding various other positions within the Palestinian Authority.