Reform and Revolution in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa

There is no doubt that, in today’s age of information, states are not the only important players in the national and global political arena. Since their emergence in 18th-century England, social movements have played an increasingly crucial role in political and social developments. They have impacted the political decision making of almost every country in the Middle East, from the constitutional revolution in Turkey and Iran in the early 20th century to the nationalist movements in the Arab world in the 1950s and ’60s and to the recent waves of popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Despite the vitality and complexity of these movements in authoritarian contexts, many analysts and observers have assumed until recently that public collective actions and popular protests are predominantly specific to liberal democracies. This course challenges this assumption by examining numerous powerful protest movements in the contemporary Middle East from the 20th century to the present, including those in Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, Tunisia, Libya, and Iran, and exploring the impact of people’s power on the course and direction of their respective societies. Examining the collective actions of students, women, youth, and ethnic and religious minorities as vital forces towards change and democratization, this course investigates the profound impact of social movements on political and institutional decision-making procedures in the region. We will read and discuss texts on social movements that have shaped the sociopolitical landscape of the modern Middle East and North Africa. We will evaluate from a comparative perspective the origins, trajectories, and outcomes of popular unrest throughout this strategically important and contentious region. In this course, we will ask and debate questions such as these: What important internal players, other than the state and political parties, competed for power in the social and political arenas of each country? What are the demographic and historical roots of these movements, and how did they rise and fall? Why did the tactics of movements differ at divergent localities and times, and why did some movements turn militant? And finally, what are the social, intellectual, and historical causes of the emergence and outcomes of popular unrest?