Arabic Foreign Policy and International Relations

Welcome to ARLA 8311, Arab Foreign Policy and International Relations. This course examines the intersecting roles of Arab, American and European policies affecting political, economic and security issues in the MENA region during the post WWII era.

ARLA 8311 provides theoretical tools for research and analysis. We will scrutinize how policy decisions of all three players have simultaneously shaped and responded to issues such as terrorism, arms trafficking, nuclear proliferation, control of oil resources, environmental crises and the support of authoritarian regimes. Our observations will aim to uncover alliances and common objectives as well as discord disjunction between the American, European and Arab interests.

We’ll trace the route of policy decisions that underpinned the MENA region’s post WWII succession of conflicts and crises: President Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.’s Gulf Wars, the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001 and their aftermath, the War on Terror and U.S. invasion of Iraq, the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the upheavals and revolutions of the Arab Spring movements in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria; military intervention in Libya, the rise of ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Libya; terrorist attacks in Europe, the war in Syria and resulting refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East, and the Iranian nuclear program and deal. These and other political events have shaped the MENA region’s modern history.