The Arab World Today: Contemporary History and International Relations

OBJECTIVES
This Course will introduce students to the contemporary history of the Arab world and its
international relations during the 20th and 21st centuries. It will describe the major events in the history
of the Eastern (Mashreq) and Western (Maghreb) Arab states during this period and of the development
of their relations with Europe and the United States. Special attention will be paid to Spain’s relations
with the Maghreb region, particularly with Morocco.

METHODOLOGY
Classes will involve lectures, but student active participation will be encouraged through the
discussion of assigned readings, through the screening of movies, as well as through student assignment
presentations.

SYLLABUS
1. Who are the Arabs? What is Islam? The geography of the Arab world.
2. The legacy of the First World War and European Colonialism in the Mashreq region. The rise of
the Arab Nation-States. The origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
3. The Cold War and Arab nationalism. The Suez Crisis. The United States and the decolonisation of
North Africa.
4. The legacy of European Colonialism in the Maghreb region. Spanish and French relations with the
Maghreb. The Maghrebi Cold War and the Arab-Maghreb Union.
5. The development of United States policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict.
6. The Western Sahara conflict and its international dimension.
7. The Gulf War and its aftermath.
8. The Algerian crisis.
9. Arab emigrants in Europe and the United States and their impact on Arab foreign policies.