Academic Year 2014/2015
Sciences Po College
Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Campus
Spring Semester
SHIISM AND POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Laurence Louër
Type of course: Seminar course (Elective)
Course Description:
This seminar aims at analysing the various political expressions of Shiism in the Arab world and Iran. It will
deal only with mainstream Twelver Shiism and will not deal with the heterodox minority sects (Ismaelis, Alawis,
Druzes, Zaydis). The seminar will follow a historical logic, beginning with an introduction to the early history of
Shiism to end with a conclusion about the recent debates around the notion of “Shia revival”. It will have a
thematic focus in some sessions: the organization and socio-political role of the clerics, the peculiarities of
Shia political Islam as opposed to Sunni political Islam, the Shia revival. Other sessions will concentrate on
specific countries where Shiism is an important social and political phenomenon: Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain
and the Gulf monarchies.
Requirements and Grading:
• 1 oral presentation (maximum of 10 minutes)- (40% of course mark)
• 1 paper (50% of course mark)
• In-Class Participation (10 % of course mark)
Syllabus:
Session 1: The Origins of a Religious Movement
Session 2: Religious Authority and the Society of the Clerics
Session 3: Shiism and State in Iran from the Safavids to the Pahlavis
Session 4 Shiism Independant from the State : Iraq and Lebanon
Session 5: Shiism in Arabia
Session 6: Shia Political Islam
Session 7: The Islamic Republic of Iran
Session 8: Shiism in Iranian Foreign Policy
Session 9: Shia Political Islam in Lebanon
Session 10: The Reshaping of Shia Political Islam in Iraq Post-Saddam Hussein
Session 11: Shia Political Islam in Bahrain
Session 12: The Shia Revival
Selected Bibliography:
-
Required reading list:
Halm, Heinz, The Shiites: A Short History, Princeton, Markus Wiener Publishers, 2007
Keddie, Nikki R., Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, New Haven Yale University Press,
2003
Louër, Laurence, Shiism and Politics in the Middle East, London, Hurst, 2012
Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival. How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, New York, Norton,
2006
-
Suggested reading list:
Afrasiabi, K. L., After Khomeini. New Directions in Iran’s Foreign Policy, Boulder, Westview Press,
1994
Arjomand, Said Amir, The Turban for the Crown : The Islamic Revolution in Iran, Oxford University
Press, 1988
Haddad, Fanar, Sectarianism in Iraq. Antagonistic Visions of Unity, London, Hurst, 2011
Nakash, Yitzhak, The Shi‘is of Iraq, Princeton University Press, 2003 (1994)