GOVT 60.17 Arab Political Thought
This is a gateway course to Arab political thought. It will introduce students to the main political and intellectual debates in the modern Arab world since its nascent beginnings during the first half of the 19th century to the ideologies that animated the Arab Spring and its aftermath, including:
- Early accounts of political modernity
- Early Islamic revivalism
- Liberal thought
- Nationalism and Pan-Arabism
- Arab socialism, Marxism and the New Left
- Anti-Colonialism and Occidentalism
- Dreams of Domination
- Citizenship, democracy and human rights
- New directions in Arab thought: Liberalism, nationalism and Islamism
We will cover the basic contours and intellectual debates around these issues, analyzing the main texts tracing their development. The aim of this course is not only to familiarize students with the basic political features of the Middle East but also to equip students with the tools necessary to pursue future academic and analytical work on the politics of the region.
Instructor
Fishere
Cross Listed Courses
MES 12.05