• - The origin of the State in the Arab world: a historical perspective.
• - The evolution of legal systems: European law, sharia, custom and International Law.
• - Democracy, liberalism and civil society.
• - Global map of the political regimes.
  

Readings:

G. Martín Muñoz (1999), Ch. 1 “Representación y legitimidad en la tradición islámica” and Ch. 2 “La búsqueda de la adecuación entre el orden político islámico y el europeo” in El estado árabe: crisis de legitimidad y contestación islamista. Barcelona: Bellaterra (pp. 23-67)

Daniel Brumberg, “Liberalization versus Democracy. Understanding Arab Political Reform”, Democracy and Rule of Law Project, Working Papers, no. 37, May 2003, web of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace ( www.ceip.org )

• - The West against the South: Muhammad Alí, Gamal Abdel Nasser and the struggle for modernity.
• - Responses to defeat in the face of imperialism.
• - Political Islam.

Reading:

Flory, M. “Un système politique arabo-musulman?”, in Flory, M.; Mantran, R.; Korany, B.; Camay, M.; Agate, P. (1990) Les régimes politiques arabes, Paris: PUF (pp. 75-95).

• - Colonial legacy and political-economic strategy.
• - Characteristics of the political regime.
• - The legitimising discourse in Algeria.
• - Pillars of the Algerian political strategy

Reading:

Roberts, Hugh (2003), “The Algerian state and the challenge of democracy” in Roberts, Hugh (2003) , The battlefield Algeria 1988-2002. Studies in a Broken Polity (Ch. 5), Verso, London.

• - Denominationalism and distribution of power.
• - Modernisation and legitimacy.
• - The breaking of the Lebanese status quo.
• - Reconstruction of the state.

Obligatory reading:

Elvira Sánchez Mateos (1996), “Líbano y las relaciones sirio-israelíes: un análisis de Líbano como microcosmos de Oriente Medio”, Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, 34-35, pp. 171-190.

• - Development strategies based on hydrocarbon revenues.
• - Results of the development strategies of the Arab oil economies.
• - Characteristics of the Arab oil economies.
• - The link between political strategy and economic strategy.
• - Definition of the social contracts organised around the distribution of hydrocarbon revenues.

Reading:

Hazem Beblawi, “The rentier state in the Arab world”; Giacomo Luciani, “Allocation vs. Production states: a theoretical framework”, in Hazem Beblawi and Giacomo Luciani (Eds.) (1987) The Rentier State (Ch. 2 and 3, pp. 49-82). Beckenham, Kent: Croom Helm / Istituto Affari Internazionali

• - Why isn’t the Arab world democratic?
• - Culturalist vs. socio-political arguments.
• - A view from the West: support for autarchies vs. policies promoting democracy.
• - The liberal discourse in the Arab world.
• - Islamism and democracy

Readings:

Gilles Kepel (2001) “Conclusión: ¿Hacia una democracia musulmana? in La Yihad: expansión y declive del islamismo. Barcelona: Península (pp. 575-595)

Gudrun Krämer, “L’intégration des intégristes: une etude comparative de l’Égypte, la Jordanie et la Tunisie” in G. Salamé (Dir.) (1994) Démocraties sans démocrates: Politiques d’ouverture dans le monde arabe et islamique. Paris: Fayard (pp. 277-309)

• - Sadat and the withdrawal of Egypt.
• - The fight for centrality in the Arab world.
• - The new U.S. policy, the invasion of Iraq and Arab weakness

Reading:

Corm, George (2003) Le Proche-Orient éclaté 1956-2003. Paris: Gallimard. (Chapter 6, pp. 263-295).

• - The Maghreb from independence until the end of the Cold War.
• - The Maghreb in the post-Cold War period.
• - The origins of the Western Sahara conflict: the discourses.
• - The evolution of the conflict: the actors.
• - The management of the conflict: the United Nations

Reading:

Antoni Segura (2001) “El conflicto del Sáhara y las relaciones intermagrebíes” in Más allá del Islam. Política y conflictos actuales en el mundo musulmán. Madrid: Alianza (pp. 49-89)

• - The Zionist project and the colonisation of Palestine.
• - Palestine and the fight for Arab centrality.
• - Power and conflict in Israeli policy.
• - The future of the peace process.

Reading:

Pappe, Ilan “Una aproximación al conflicto palestino-israelí: medio siglo de enfrentamientos”, in Álvarez-Ossorio, Ignacio (ed.) (2003) Informe sobre el conflicto de Palestina. Madrid : ediciones del oriente y del mediterráneo (pp. 19-40).

• - The Mediterranean on the European agenda.
• - The Barcelona Process as a shared global approach to the Mediterranean.
• - The European Union’s Mediterranean strategy.

Reading:

Elvira Sánchez Mateos (2002) “Europa y la seguridad global en el Mediterráneo”, Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, no. 57-58 (pp. 7-28).

• - U.S. policy toward the Arab world in the Cold War.
• - Protection interests and regional alliances.
• - Political-military interventionism.
• - The war in Iraq and the new regional design

Readings:

Truman Doctrine (President Harry S. Truman’s address to a joint session of Congress, March 12, 1947), 6 pp.

Eisenhower Doctrine (The Eisenhower Doctrine on the Middle East, A message to Congress, January 5, 1957), 5 pp.

Nixon Doctrine (The Silent Majority Speech, November 3, 1969), 11 pp.

Carter Doctrine (State of the Union Address, 23 January, 1980), 9 pp.

Reagan Doctrine (Address to the nation on United States Policy for Peace in the Middle East, September 1, 1982), 6 pp.

Bush Doctrine (President Bush discusses the future of Iraq, February 26, 2003; President Bush discusses freedom in Iraq and Middle East, November 3, 2003), 12 pp.

• - Creation of a Euro-Mediterranean periphery: colonial legacy.
• - The Barcelona Accords as a turning point in the European Union’s Mediterranean Policy.
• - The establishment of a free trade zone as a key element in Euro-Mediterranean co-operation.
• - Selected topics in Euro-Mediterranean economic relations: agriculture and energy.

Reading:

Giacomo Lucciani (2005) “La cesta económica del Proceso de Barcelona: resultados y perspectivas. MED 2005. El año 2004 en el espacio Euromediterráneo. IEMed/Fundación CIDOB.

Iván Martín (2005) “En busca del desarrollo perdido. Modelos económicos en los países árabes”. La Vanguardia Dossier, no. 17 (pp. 72-79).

• - OPEC as an instrument of national policy: problems and weaknesses.
• - OPEC in the framework of the international economy.
• - Factors that have brought about the new transnationalisation of the EEI.
• - Characteristics of the new transnationalisation.
• - Effects of the transnationalisation.
• - Prospects for the Arab oil economies in the context of globalisation.
• - The new role of the Arab oil economies in the world economy.
• - The oil vs. democracy debate.