JMM705

American Foreign Policy and the "Arab Spring"

Winter

Schedule: 9:30-10:10

Room: J4018

Capacity: 20

Instructor: Dr. Anna Viden

Office Hours: Tuesdays 14-16

E-mail: aviden@sas.upenn.edu

Target audience: MA-students and advanced BA-students who wish to gain a better understanding of U.S. Middle East Policies.

Course Description:

This course, which takes an International Relations perspective, aims to provide the conceptual tools and the historical background necessary to help you understand the current U.S. foreign policies with regards to the "Arab Spring" (or the "Arab Awakenings", which is a more correct term). More specifically, we seek to make sense of the initial reluctance of the Obama administration during its first term to embrace the demands for regime change in the authoritarian regimes of the MENA-region. Additionally, we will try to understand the rationale behind the Obama administration’s unwillingness during its second term to intervene more forcefully in the Syrian conflict and to take a clear stance against the military regime’s repressive measures against political opponents in Egypt. Lately, the Obama administration is desperately seeking to find a strategy in regards to ISIS (or ISIL) that the war-fatigued American public can accept. In relation to these developments, we can observe modifications in the Obama administrations Syrian policy as it is considering boosting the Syrian rebels’ military capacity in order to push back ISIS. Some analysts are even suggesting that the Obama administration might consider cooperating with Bashir Assad in this endeavor-obviously a tremendously controversial proposition.

The Obama administration’s contradictory positions with regards to the Arab Awakenings and the situation in Syria and Egypt in particular, are illustrations of the inherent tensions between values and interests which historically have characterized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Why has theUnited Stateswhich represents itself as a beacon of liberty and democracy supported autocratic regimes such asSaudi Arabia,Egypt,JordanandMorocco? Why has theUnited Statessupported the status quo of these regimes despite apparent human rights abuses, and lack of political and religious freedoms? How has theUnited Statesjustified the support of these regimes to the American public and to the outside world? Why does theUnited Statesseem to fear the transition to democracy in countries such asTunisia,Egypt,Yemen,Libya,BahrainandSyria? What are the perceptions of Islam and its compatibility with democracy amongU.S.decision makers and the American public? How doU.S.policy-makers negotiate between the perceived and real threats posed toU.S.national security interests by Islamic extremists on the one hand and the objective to promote freedom and democracy on the other? Is it realistic to assume that the Arab Awakenings will force theU.S.to finally address the tensions between values and interests which is manifest in itsMideastpolicies? These questions and other related issues will be addressed in this course.

However, in order to understand the rationale behind U.S. Middle East policies it is necessary to explore why the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf in particular, has been of central importance to the United States since the mid-1940s. Additionally, it is essential to take into account overarching geopolitical paradigms and frames such as the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Post-Cold War and the War on Terror, which directly have influenced U.S. foreign policy makers. This means that this course will have historical as well as current IR and-foreign policy analysis components. Some of the central concepts and theories which will be addressed in this course are realism, idealism, isolationism, interests and values, democracy promotion, American exceptionalism, benevolent hegemony, political Islam and Islamic extremism.

Required Literature: You are not required to buy any specific literature for this course. The course literature (scholarly articles, newspaper and magazine articles, book excerpts, think-tank reports, and copies of primary documents) will be posted to SIS prior to our class meetings. News reels and films (both documentary and cinematographic) will also be used as course material.

Course Assessment:

Final exam 70%

Participation 30%

Final exam:

Your knowledge of the course material will be tested in a 24-hour take-home exam. The exam will consist of 10 short definitional questions and one longer essay question which you will be able to choose from a list of topics.

Participation:

You will be graded on your active participation in class. Participation is mandatory, which means that absence will only be accepted if deemed justified (illness, family emergency etc.). It is your responsibility to consult with me in advance if you are unable to participate in any class-session. Active participation means active participation in class discussions. You will also be asked to present a portion of the readings to the class as a whole.

How to make the most of the class:

I expect you to be punctual and to come prepared to the class meetings. You are also expected to follow the current events in the Middle East and the concurrent debates taking place in the United States in relation to these events. These debates take place on TV, in newspapers, in scholarly reviews, in magazines, at the websites of think tanks, on blogs and on the radio. Your knowledge about the events and the debates will be tested in the final exam. You are also expected to actively participate in class activities and class discussions. Use of cell-phones and social websites such as Facebook, twitter and messenger will not be accepted in class. Ample instructions will be given in advance for this exercise.

Course Outline

Part 1.

Week 1: Thursday October 2: Course Introduction

Presentation of syllabus: Outline of the course, goals, expectations, and assignments.

Short discussion of the Arab Uprisings (why, how and where did they start?) and of the initial reaction of the Obama Administration to these events?

Readings: Blake Hounshell. "What will the U.S. do about Egypt?" Foreign Policy, January 25, 2011. Accessed September 19, 2014. Accessible at

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/25/what_will_the_us_do_about_egypt

Week 2: Thursday October 9: The Discourse on Benevolent Hegemony

This class will focus on the discourse on benevolent hegemony employed by the United States to justify its expansion in the Middle East after 1945. You will watch a "propaganda movie" (Desert Venture) from 1948 where this discourse is frequently used.

Readings: Melani McAlister. "Introduction", in Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945-2000. Berkeley University of California Press (2001), 2005, 1-8.

"The Moment of NSC-68", in Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945-2000. Berkeley: University of California Press (2001), 2005, 47-60.

Week 3: Thursday October 16: The Influence of Oil on U.S. Mideast Policy

We will explore the influence of oil on U.S. Mideast policy and specifically focus on how U.S. oil interest has played into the conflict between interests and values. In order to do so we will examine the debate provoked in the United States by King Saud’s visit to the United States in January 1957. We will also discuss the negative reactions provoked by the Saudi oil workers’ strikes against ARAMCO’s discriminatory labor policies in Saudi Arabia in the 1950s.

Readings:

"An Islamic Pope" in Thicker Than Oil: America’s Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, 61-77.

Nathan, J., Citino, "Saudi Arabia and the Anglo-American "Postwar Petroleum Order", in From Arab Nationalism to OPEC: Eisenhower, King Sa’ud, and the Making of U.S.-Saudi Relations. Bloomington: Indiana University Press