Academic Catalog

MES504 US FOREIGN POLICY AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Course Code: 8320504
METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): 3(3-0)
ECTS Credit: 8.0
Department: Middle East Studies
Language of Instruction: English
Level of Study: Graduate
Course Coordinator:
Offered Semester: Fall and Spring Semesters.

Course Content

The Middle East with its strategic and economic significance as well as incessant volatility and instability has been a major preoccupation for US foreign policy and its hegemonic aspirations. This course aims to offer a comprehensive examination of actors, motives, instruments and the major issues shaping US foreign policy vis-à-vis the Middle East during Cold War and post 9/11 eras. It also aims to discuss changes and continuities in American involvement and diplomacy in the Middle East in the context of the Arab Spring. The course intends to bring issues of security, political economy and democratization into extended focus, while grasping the foreign policy making and implementation processes inside the United States towards Arab and non-Arab states, as well as non-state actors in the region.