This intensive course is designed to acquaint students with some of the more important problems, concepts and ideas related to the process of transformation of the Middle Eastern political economies. While paradigms of sustainable economic growth and equitable distribution of wealth will be among the central concerns of the course, its scope will be much broader, dealing with the fundamental questions of where these societies are headed, by which paths, and with what human consequences.

The course will combine theoretical and comparative approaches to change in the Middle East with the advancement of empirical knowledge concerning individual experiences of the Arab states, Iran, Israel, Turkey, and Afghanistan. In discussing what constitutes ‘development’ and how it can be measured, various currents in contemporary discourse about development (or in reaction against development) will be examined, using Western and indigenous perceptions. The course will seek to integrate the themes of globalisation, the emergence of new social movements, crises of rentierism and corporatism, and neo-patriarchy into the narrative of change in the Middle East.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. interpret global challenges faced by the world in general and the Middle East in particular;
2. assess the experiences of Middle Eastern states and societies with "development" and the implications of economic adjustment for communities at the meso- and micro-level;
3. re-evaluate the concepts and theories contained within the existing "development" and "modernisation" frameworks;
4. analyse scholarly criticism of developmentalism, both from within the field of development studies, and from outside it; and
5. examine critically the praxis of development based on the Washington Consensus and neo-liberalism.