PS2255: Politics of the Middle East

Sem: AY19/20 Semester 2

Lecturer: Dr. Dunya Lepori

Overview: Heard mixed reviews about this mod but I have always been interested in the Middle East so I decided to take it anyway. I really liked how the mod was structured as it gave me a deeper appreciation of the issues facing the modern-day Middle East. The module also assumes no prior knowledge about the Middle East so it’s really very beginner-friendly. The first half of the module is basically a crash course into the history of the region from the last days of the Ottoman Empire to the present-day, with themes centred upon relations with Western powers, political structures and the role of religion and oil. This makes sense, as one needs to understand the past in order to understand the present. Do ensure that you have a firm foundation for the first half of the module as the second half, the more political issues, builds on these historical events. The second half of the module delves into post-war issues in Middle Eastern politics, with a focus on Iran, Turkey and Egypt. Themes such as authoritarian resilience, women in politics and democratization are explored as well.

Dr Dunya speaks with an accent but she’s still rather comprehensible. She is also very particular about punctuality so please come for classes (in-person or online) on time. Her slides are relatively comprehensive and give you the information that you need so you just have to take down a few small notes here and there. There was just so much to take in for each lecture but it was precisely because of this that I learnt a lot from this module. That said, I wished that this module had also covered pressing issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Saudi-Iran rivalry (note: went to look at the syllabus for the latest iteration of the mod and seems like these are now being taught as well). Really recommend you consider taking this mod even if it is just meant to broaden your horizons, as mods that focus on regions other than Asia or the West are rare to come by in NUS.

Assessment:

Discussion Questions (10%): You are required to submit 2 discussion questions at least 24 hours before the start of each tutorial. It can be questions pertaining to the readings or the content covered in lectures. I think Dr Dunya marks this based on the quality of the questions you send so it is essential that you do them properly.

Class Participation (20%): Dr Dunya will collate the discussion questions that you and your tutorial mates submitted and choose a few to discuss in your small groups. Your groups will then present what you have talked about. However, we only had 1 such tutorial session as NUS PS department decided to cancel all in-person instruction from W5 onwards so our tutorial discussions in subsequent weeks ended up being forum posts.

Midterms (30%): This comprises short-answer questions, and typically happens around W6, before Recess Week. Was supposed to be an in-class, closed-book test but later converted to an online, open-book test due to COVID-19. It was conducted during lecture time and we had 2 hours to complete it. There was also a 250-word limit imposed for each question to simulate the pressures of a closed-book exam. Dr Dunya uses point-based marking (you get the mark if your answer contains a point in the marking scheme) and I managed to hit most of the points so I did relatively well for the midterm.

Final Exam (40%): Similar to the midterms, this was supposed to be an in-hall, closed-book exam which later became an online, open-book exam. We had 2 hours to complete 2 essay questions, with a word limit of 1000 words per essay. Dr Dunya gave us a long list of sample questions for the final and the essay questions were actually taken from this list. Didn’t actually create essay outlines for them (there were just too many sample questions) but at least it gave me an idea of what to expect so I didn’t have any surprises when I saw the exam questions.