Graduate Courses
Past Courses:
NES 516 Introduction to Shafi`i Law
Aron Zysow
This course provides an introduction to the terms and concepts of Islamic law through the reading of a popular short work (mukhtasar) of Shafi`i law. The sources of the law in the Qur’an and hadith will be discussed, and some attention will be given to points of dispute (ikhtilaf) among the law schools (madhahib). Further readings will address the structure of legal authority within Shafi`ism. Prerequisite: a reading knowledge of Arabic.
NES 518 History and Society of Saudi Arabia
Bernard Haykel
This course examines the history, politics and society of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most important country in both the Arab and Islamic worlds today. Students will be exposed to the Kingdom's complex relationship with political Islam, the global oil market, other Arab and Muslim countries as well as the West. This course will give students a solid overview of its history, politics and society through a careful selection of published studies. The aim of the course is to get students acquainted with the history of the Kingdom and the main factors that have played a role in its unfolding.
NES 528 Readings in Modernist Islamic Law
Aron Zysow
This course traces the development of modernist Sunni law from Muhammad 'Abduh (d. 1905) and his follower Muhammad Rashid Rida (d. 1935) through such contemporary jurists as Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926). The readings will cover both legal theory (usul al- fiqh) and substantive law, including such areas as the rights of women and Islamic finance. Attention will be given to the legal argumentation deployed by the modernists as well as to their conclusions. Conservative critics of the modernists will also be read.
NES 530 Political Economy of Arab Gulf Countries
Eckart Woertz
An examination of the political economy of Arab Gulf countries, which are pivotal for international politics because of their energy resources, considered as political actors in their own right with specific development agendas. Course examines characteristics and challenges of countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the fields of domestic politics, economics and international relations. Issues to be discussed range from domestic liberalization and economic diversification to petrodollar recycling and foreign policy stances.
NES 556 Introduction to Islamic Legal Theory
Aron Zysow
This course offers a systematic introduction to the key terms and concepts of classical Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh) through the close reading and analysis of several short elementary works as well as more advanced selections. No previous study of Islamic law is required.
NES 561 Studies in Modern Arab History: Readings in Islamic Revivalism, Islamist Politics and Law
Bernard Haykel
This course aims to survey a variety of historical and religious texts in Arabic. Students must have mastery of advanced Arabic. Some of the texts that will be studied have been edited and published, others remain in manuscript form.
NES 583 Readings in the Muwatta`
Selected readings from the Muwatta' of Malik ibn Anas in the version transmitted by Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybani. The course aims at providing an introduction to debates in early Islamic law.
Undergraduate Courses
Current Courses:
NES 342 Politics of Heritage and Memory in the Middle East
Amal Sachedina
This course will explore recent ethnographic/historical texts on material heritage and memory in the Middle East in order to delve into engagements with "the past" and the underlying dynamics which have driven the seemingly paradoxical relationships between "authenticity" and "modernity" in the region.
NES 312 Revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa
Tyson Patros
What began as street protests in Tunisia in 2010 sparked a revolutionary wave across the Arab world. Mass mobilizations, violent reprisals, and civil wars eventually ousted longstanding autocratic rulers. Why did so many ordinary people desire such profound change? What alternatives to the old regimes did they see? What did they achieve? Only through a historical lens can we answer these questions and understand in a way that takes us beyond images from the nightly news. This course covers revolutions in the Middle East and No. Africa and address themes of social movements, state building, development, and democracy over the past 200 years.
NES 269 The Politics of Modern Islam
Amal Sachedina
Instead of defining Islam simply, abstracted from history and politics, recent scholarship calls for an approach that makes every-day practical interpretations, practices and living social relationships central towards understanding the religion as an integral part of modern life. This course explores how Islam was profoundly influenced by colonial rule and post-colonial nation state building with its modernist socio-political arrangements in schools, court systems, government administration and heritage. These institutional foundations shaped life in the modern Muslim World whilst also generating revolutionary Islamist movements in turn.
NES 265 Political and Economic Development of the Middle East
Yasmina Abouzzohour
Overview of the intersection of the politics and economics of the modern Middle East and North Africa. Study political and economic development and underdevelopment of region's diverse states by exploring the ways in which political institutions affect economic performance and those in which economic conditions influence political events. You'll build on rich historical literature, interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, and multi-methods empirical studies to think critically about the determinants that lead to underdevelopment vs. development, chaos vs. stability, regime survival vs. overthrow, and political opening vs. stability.
Past Courses:
NES 366 Oil, Energy and The Middle East
Bernard Haykel
Overview of the issues surrounding global energy supplies, oil's unique physical and economic properties, and its role in shaping the political economy of the Middle East and U.S. strategic interests in the region. Discuss availability of energy sources, the state of technology, the functioning of energy markets, the challenges of coping with global climate change and the key role of the oil reserves in the Middle East. Then focus on the history of oil in the Middle East and its impact on societies in the region.
NES 385 Jihadism in the Modern Middle East
Bernard Haykel and Hugo Micheron
This course provides a detailed survey of the key jihadi groups and ideologies that have taken form in the Middle East since the 1970s. From the Iranian revolution to 9/11, and from Hezbollah to ISIS, it introduces jihadism, including pre-modern Islamic theology and law and the ways in which these have been appropriated and repurposed by jihadi ideologues for political ends. The course also shows how jihadis disseminate their ideas (e.g. journals, pamphlets, books, cassette tapes and CDs, poetry, chants, satellite television shows, online videos, and social media) and considers Sunni and Shi'i jihadi movements.
NES 396 Political Economy of Institutions in the Modern Middle East
Christiana Parreira
This course draws on rich historical literature, theoretical perspectives, and empirical analysis to overview key themes in the study of the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa. Students will gain an understanding of how core political and economic institutions developed throughout the modern Middle East, and to what end. The course will explore a variety of explanations for institutional durability and change in the region, including the roles of religion, culture, oil rentierism, and colonialism. Finally, the course will provide insight into cutting-edge methodological approaches to the study of the Middle East.
NES 206 Militant Islamism (2008)
Thomas Hegghammer
Violent Islamism has emerged as one of the most prominent issues in US security policy, and the US war on terrorism has deep implications for foreign policy and international politics. This course will examine the causes, manifestations and dynamics of violent Islamism from the early 1970s to the present. The perspective will be primarily empirical and actor-oriented, but we will also discuss key theoretical paradigms from the ever-increasing literature on this topic. Emphasis will be placed on the need for a depoliticized and dispassionate approach to the study of violent Islamism.
NES 241 Contemporary Religious Trends in Iran (2008)
Majid Mohammadi
This course will examine contemporary religious trends in Iran, with special attention given to the interaction between Shi`ism and contemporary social and economic processes in Iran and elsewhere. The social and political contexts of various approaches to religion will be explored. We will examine the ethnic, social and cultural patterns that dominate religious movements in Iran today.
NES 265 Political & Economic Development of the Middle East (2019)
Makio Yamada
This course offers an opportunity to study the political economy of the Middle East. This semester we focus on oil-exporting monarchical countries in the Gulf/Arabian Peninsula, which are under rapid transformation today. We discuss issues such as the reasons for the durability of monarchism in this region; the unsustainability of their oil-based economies; challenges facing the attempt to make a transition to a post-oil economy (both in terms of income and the source of energy – in light of the rise of renewables and the global climate change regime); the youth unemployment problem and challenges facing the creation and localization of jobs.
NES 266 / ENV 266 Oil, Energy and the Middle East
Eckart Woertz and Bernard Haykel
An overview of the issues surrounding global energy supplies, oil's unique economic properties, and its role in shaping the political economy of the Middle East and U.S. strategic interests in the region. We will begin by discussing the basic science and availability of energy sources, the state of technology, the functioning of energy markets, the challenges of coping with global climate change and the key role of the oil reserves in the Middle East. The second part of the course will focus on the history of oil in the Middle East and its impact on societies in the region.
WWS 594I The Politics and Economics of Middle East Energy in the Global Context
Giacomo Luciani
Economic growth requires constantly growing use of energy, and the availability of sufficient sources of energy on a global scale is not to be taken for granted. In this context, the Middle East countries play a vital role as exporters of hydrocarbons to the rest of the world. The course aims at providing students with the critical knowledge and skills to avoid superficial generalizations and stereotypes – which unfortunately remain all too common. The following aspects will be discussed: 1) Global energy demand and supply scenarios and the role of the Middle East; 2) Economic development and diversification of the Gulf economies 3) The Gulf countries, oil price discovery and revenue volatility; 4) The Near East and energy security: oil wars?; 5) The global gas market and the role of Qatar; 6) Rational use of energy, renewable energy sources, nuclear energy and the Middle East.
NES 269 The Politics of Modern Islam
Bernard Haykel
This course examines the political dimensions of Islam. This will involve a study of the nature of Islamic political theory, the relationship between the religious and political establishments, the characteristics of an Islamic state, the radicalization of Sunni and Shi'i thought, and the compatibility of Islam and the nation-state, democracy, and constitutionalism, among other topics. Students will be introduced to the complex and polemical phenomenon of political Islam. The examples will be drawn mainly, though not exclusively, from cases and writings from the Middle East.
NES 312 Revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa
Asher Orkaby
Beginning with the violent street demonstrations in Tunisia in December 2010, popular protests, violent reprisals, and full scale civil war have brought down the autocratic regimes of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya aired on the screens of global news agencies. Only through the eyes of history can we can begin to understand the events of the past decade in a context that takes us beyond the nightly news. This course will cover the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula and will address themes of anti-Empire, nationalism, socialist, populist, and religious revolutions in the Arab World over the past 300 years.
NES 352 Arabia in the 20th Century: from Oil Concessions to Osama bin Laden
Pascal Menoret
This lecture course is an introduction to the contemporary history of the Arabian Peninsula in the 20th century, from the last decades of the Ottoman presence in the region to the 9/11 bombings. Students will be introduced to state building in tribal societies, imperialism and hegemony, oil exploitation and workers’ unrest, leftist and Islamist movements, political economy and social change, women, migrants and urban unrest.
NES 371 The Doctrine of Jihad
Aron Zysow
This course surveys the development of the doctrine of jihad (war against non-Muslims) from the sacred sources, the Qur'an and hadith, through classical Islamic law to more recent debates. The contributions of contemporary ideologists of jihad will be examined against this background. The focus throughout will be on the questions of authority in Islam underlying this subject.
NES 392 Young Muslims in Europe: Integration or Radicalization?
Roger Hardy
A series of crises--ranging from the Madrid and London bombings to controversies over the Danish cartoons and the Muslim headscarf--have highlighted concerns about the presence of new and growing Muslim communities in Europe, and in particular, the danger of radicalization of Muslim youth. Using case studies drawn mainly from Britain, France, and the Netherlands, this course explores the social and political aspects of this new Muslim presence and considers whether different models of integration (multiculturalism in Britain, assimilationism in France) are succeeding or failing.
NES 393 Youth, Violence and Politics in the Middle East
Pascal Menoret
Violence in the contemporary Middle East may be seen as a rebellion of youth against aging political regimes and the foreign influences in the region. This course is intended to examine this generational hypothesis in the context of the social and political history of the Middle East and North Africa. Particular emphasis will be given to the study of social as well as political violence. Students will be introduced to such topics as the emergence of youth as a political concern, the way Islamist movements focus on youth issues (e.g., education and leisure), and the complex and diverse relationships between the body, violence, and politics.
NES 394 Colonialism, Post-Colonialism and Islam: North Africa (1830-2019)
Elizabeth M. Perego
This course explores the history of North Africa, an area undergoing radical political turmoil since the beginning of the Arab spring in January 2011. It analyzes the colonial and postcolonial transformations of the Maghrib from the 19th to the first decade of the 21st century. Through a range of secondary and primary sources, the purpose of the course is to give an overview of the colonial effects and legacies on and in North African societies, but also to start questioning the colonial period as a framework of analysis.
NES 430 / REL 429 The Qur'an in English
Aron Zysow
This course will cover about two thirds of the Qur'anic text in the English translation of Kenneth Cragg, which has the advantage for an initial study of organizing the Qur'anic passages according to broad themes. The course aims at bringing the student as close as possible to the Arabic original and will draw extensively on traditional exegesis (tafsir) as well as critical Qur'anic scholarship.
NES 447 Qur'anic Commentary
Aron Zysow
This course looks at a sample of the vast literature of Qur'anic commentary through English translations of writings from the early, classical, and modern periods. The readings will include examples of the interpretation of particular Qur'anic passages as well as works on the nature and aims of Qur'anic exegesis. The readings represent a variety of genres produced by writers of radically different commitments.
WWS 594T Political Change in the Gulf Monarchies
Steffen Hertog
This course will examine the political systems of Gulf monarchies from a comparative perspective, looking at drivers of change and reform in particular. Special emphasis is put on understanding the internal dynamics of regimes and state-society relations in the Gulf, as Western foreign policies towards the region are too often predicated on an insufficient understanding of what drives decision-making in the Gulf monarchies.