- Who is more to blame for the eroding legitimacy of the Arab state system? External powers, such as Great Britain and France or the U.S. and Soviet Union, or regional leaders? Explain your reasoning. We have not deeply explored this dynamic yet. But that should not stop us from engaging in some preliminary debates that can be revisited later in this course.
- This lesson identified a series of new security trends that are currently dominating the Middle East: religio-politics, the Israel-Palestine conflict, a nuclear Iran, oil, border disputes, and changing alliance patterns. Which issue, in your opinion, is the most important in terms of political stability in the region? Which is the least important? Explain your reasoning.
Sources we used:
- Peter Sluglett and Andrew Payne; Ch. 3: The Cold War in the Middle East; in Louise Fawcett, ed., International Relations of the Middle East (Text)
- Bahgat Korany; Ch. 4: The Middle East Since the Cold War: Movement without Progress; in Louise Fawcett, ed., International Relations of the Middle East (Text)
- Dan Smith; The Penguin State of the Middle East; p. 35 (“The Suez Crises”) (Text)