Année universitaire 2014/2015
Collège universitaire
Semestre d’automne
Cours séminaire ‘Structures & Crisis in the Middle East’
Michel Goussot
Syllabus
Fall 2014
Michel Goussot
PSIA
CERI/Sciences-Po
Senior Lecturer/ Maître de Conférence
[email protected]
Structures and Crisis in the Middle East
Selected Items
Cours électif/Séminaire
Syllabus
Copyright Michel Goussot, 2014
Introduction
This course has two objectives : first, examining the political economy and history of
the Middle East; second, reviewing major themes in the Middle East political science
literature. Prior knowledge of the Middle East is welcome, but not expected or presumed (it
depends on your own knowledge in the past). The objectives of this course are multifaceted.
First, the course is designed to give students a more nuanced and complete understanding of
the stakes in the Middle East, its states, and peoples. Second, the course is supposed to
compare political development trends in the Middle East to similar experiences in other parts
of the developing world.
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The course puts a premium on both specific details: dates, names, places, events,
mapping) and theoretical approaches developed by politic scientists to make sense of raw facts
(see my course of the first semester). This course will examine selected aspects of politics in
the Middle East. This will include state-society relations; ideology and transnationalism;
regionalization in the Middle East; Islamist politics; political economy; political liberalization
and the persistence of authoritarianism; and gender. This course is intended to serve as a
literature survey, a research seminar, and a introduction to key policy debates.
1. The class
The class is designed to enable the student to set up a personal documentation and a
precise lexicon, to switch scales, in both time and space, to decipher discourses on the world
and their intellectual genealogy, to identify and master required knowledge. The student must
be able to fulfil those requirements and express themselves in a clear manner, in both written
and oral form.
Besides training students for the examinations required for the diploma (both written
and oral, the class will provide students with methodological skills useful for their further
studies or their professional life. The student must be able to fulfill those requirements, and
express themselves in a clear manner, in both written and oral form.
Different forms of training will be offered, aimed to developing abilities such as a rigorous
reasoning, the techniques of analysis and synthesis, the prioritization of ideas, as well as their
presentation to an audience. Those exercises are intended to improve the students’ skills in
researching data, their basic knowledge as well as mastery of the basic elements needed to
understand regionalization. The class will also help provide an opportunity to train in
collective work and critical discussion. While the readings in this course emphasize
substantive questions (= what we study), discussions of methodology (= how we study it)
play a important part as well. For each of the questions we tackle, the course readings present
answers from a variety of methodological perspectives. The readings are the backbone of the
course. Keeping up with the readings is thus crucial for satisfactory performance in the course:
this seminar places a strong emphasis on class discussions based on the set of required
readings for each session. We will carefully look at how the various pieces are analytically
constructed and how they connect to either previous work or to real world developments. Such
discussions require students to have done the readings in advance of class and to have at a
minimum a first understanding of the main arguments in the readings
2. Organization
Each session (“cours”) will open with a presentation -made by the senior lecturer - of
the most topical developments in the field of international relations and world politics. This
presentation will focus on the two or three most significant knowledge.
Each session will end with the “exposé”. The “exposé” is the core exercise of the class.
It is meant to train students to handle an issue dwelling on a methodological know how.
Students will be expected to reason and argue, displaying both analytical and synthetically
qualities, within a strict time constraint of ten minutes. This constraint must be complied with
accurately. It will also aim at opening up on the discussion.
That discussion will last 15 minutes and will be moderated by an other student, wellprepared to that end: after a very short introductory comment, he or she will leave the floor
open to students. In order to ensure the fluidity of the discussion, he or she will be prepared to
always make it rebound, before concluding with a summing-up of the most salient issues
raised. In order to be able to participate in the discussion, all students are expected to be
informed on the topic dealt with.
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The students tasked with an “exposé” circulate a short plan (one page) mailed to the
Senior Lecturer before the session. The recommended bibliography is the one provided by the
students themselves. Additional bibliographic references may be given to help in the
preparation of specific “exposés”.
3. How to succeed in this course
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Do the readings
Come to class! Students are responsible for obtaining notes from classmates for ANY
CLASSES MISSED. I will not re-teach material or provide notes to individual
students. Students are responsible for obtaining information about any announcements
made during class periods they miss
Read the assigned material BEFORE coming to the class !
Please remember that even those mother tongue is American frequently use a
dictionary. Never shy away from looking a word up in the dictionary; during the
class I will be asking about the meaning of some of the words and concepts that
will pop up in the courses and in the readings, or in my full text books I am supposed to
send you every week
Participate actively, take note on lectures, be engaged in question and discussion
periods
Think comparatively: ask yourself how the particular case you are reading about
compares with similar developments in other countries, regions, or periods
Keep up with currents events: think about how contemporary events relate to the
themes addressed in the class. If you do note already do so, get in the habit of checking
out the international pages of a least one major international paper every day or two or
three times a week (The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post,
and the Financial times are good bets). Explore other sources of news such as Al
Jazeera, Kol Ashalom, Haaretz, the Economist, the New Yorker.
4. Grading
Each student will be graded by a mark. The mark
will be computed on a scale from 0 to 20, according
to the following breakdown :
- ‘Exposé’ : 40 %, 10-15 minutes (PowerPoint
required, 10 slides)
- Research paper): 20 %
- participation in the discussion : 20 %
-press review: 20% , 10 minutes (Powerpoint
required)
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Attendance is compulsory and is checked at each
session
Important note on plagiarism
 Academic dishonesty is considered as a serious offence. The
definition of fraud/plagiarism at Sciences-Po Paris may be
translated as follows: “ To plagiarize is to take the work on an
idea of someone else and pass it off as one’s own”
 This means that if you copy, paraphrase or translate materials
from websites, books, magazines ort any other source in your
work (‘Exposé’ or Research Paper) without giving full and
proper credit to the original author(s), you are committing
plagiarism
 Plagiarism at Sciences-Po is a form of theft and fraud and should
be avoided at all costs
 Presenting other people’s work from whatever source (including
that other students and the Internet) as your OWN will be
sanctioned in terms of the grade received and by the Examination
Commission
 You must attribute any work or idea you have made use of in the
course of writing to its original author, or you are guilty of
plagiarism
 One again, students are responsible for understanding
regulations in this regard.
CONTENTS
1
Introduction
 Presentation
 Distribution of assignments.
 Rating.
 Course Overview
 World Politics from 1945 to 2012
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2.
The new Arab revolt
Exposé # 1: Syria: revolt or civil war?
Exposé # 2: Lebanon: an overview of its political and economic relations with regional
neighbors. Good relations or bad relation?
Research Paper # 1 : The Middle East of Ottomans
Research Paper # 2 : The Middle East of Europeans
Research Paper # 3: The Middle East of Americans
Press Review (2 students)
3.
The Middle East and the regionalization: economy and society
Exposé # 1: Civil society and Governement in Islamic nations
Exposé # 2: The Middle East as a security complex?
Exposé # 3 : State and gender in the Near East.
Exposé # 4: Integration vs. Sovereignty? The example of the Middle East
Research Paper # 1 : Egypt from 1948 to 1979
Researeh Paper # 2 : Egypt today: stakes and perspectives
Press Review (2 students)
4.
Political issues in the Middle East
Exposé # 1: Democracy and Arab culture: a controversy?
Exposé # 2: The states in the Middle East: strong states or weak states?
Exposé #3: To what extent is the notion of “Clash of Civilizations” relevant for today’s world?
Exposé # 4 : The persistence of authoritarianism in the Middle East ? Everywhere ? A relevant
thesis ?
Research Paper # 1: Israel: a Democratic State?
Research Paper # 2: The Islamic Revolution in Iran
Research Paper # 3 : Samuel Huntington
Press Review
5.
The control of resources in the Middle East
Exposé # 1: Petropolitics and rentierism in the Middle East
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Exposé # 2 : Oil in the Middle East: still a major stake in today international relations?
Exposé # 3 : Water in the Middle East
Exposé # 4 : A struggle for control of resources in the Middle East ?
Research Paper # 1: Oil production in the Middle East from 1945 to 2008
Research Paper # 2 : Oil and gas pipelines projects in the Middle East
Press Review
6.
The peace in the Middle East. Issues on global security
Exposé # 1 : The American perceptions of the Middle East from 1945 to 2008
Exposé # 2 : Israel security vs. peace in the Middle East?
Exposé # 3: The Lebanon crisis: the backbone of the normalization in the Middle East?
Exposé # 4: The fall of the Pharaoh in 2011; a key-time for the future?
Research Paper #1 : The Lebanon from 1975 to 1978
Research Paper # 2 : Sabra and Chathila massacres
Research Paper #3 : Lebanon and the world financial crisis
Research Paper # 4: The relations between Jordan and Syria
Press Review
7.
War and conflicts
Exposé # 1 : The ‘Clash of Civilizations’: a relevant thesis to explain a growing terrorism
from the Middle East?
Exposé # 2 : Who will benefit from the second Arab revolution (Egypt) ?
Exposé # 3 : The wars between Israël and the Arab States
Research Paper : The Six Day war
Research Paper : the Mossad
Research Paper : The nuclear proliferation in the Middle East
Research Paper: The Assad’ family
Press Review
8.
The American project to spread democracy in the Middle East
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Exposé # 1 : Is the united States (or any nation) justified in using force to prevent other
nations from acquiring nuclear weapons?
Exposé # 2 : Are the western values relevant for the Middle East’s states ?
Exposé # 3 : The Greater Middle East Bush’s project : myth or reality ? A project vs.
‘Euromediterranean Summit of Barcelona’ ?
Exposé # 4 : Does the United States’2003 war in Iraq shed any light on democratic peace
theory ? Why or why not ?
Research Paper # 1 : the UN’s resolutions for the Middle East
Research Paper # 2 : The actions of the Security Council in the Middle East
Research Paper # 3 : Cyprus : a State of the Middle East ?
Research Paper # 4 : Iraq : Reconstruction
Research Paper # 5 : Afghanistan : a failing state today?
9.
American doctrine on deterrence in the Middle East
Exposé # 1 : Does nuclear proliferation threat the world?
Exposé # 2 : Is the ‘war on terrorism’ relevant
Exposé # 3 : Has the United States to attack Iran ?
Exposé # 4: Barack Obama and Syria: so what?
Research paper # 1 : The american doctrines in the Middle East from 1945
Research paper # 2 : The Middle East during the Cold War
Research Paper # 3 : Europe in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2012
10.
Israel : a regional power?
Exposé # 1 : What could be a ‘regional power’ in the Middle East?
Exposé # 2 : Is Israel a threat for the other states in the Middle East?
Exposé # 3:
Research Paper # 1 : The political system in Israel
Research Paper # 2 : Iran vs. Israel
Press Review
11.
The international community in the Middle East
Exposé # 1 : Is the theory of ‘collective security’ relevant in the Middle East?
Exposé # 2 : Does the peace in the world depend on the peace in the Middle East ?
Exposé # 3 : Syria: its relations with other Arab states, and with western states
Research Paper #1 : The MEDEA institute’s role
Research Paper # 2 : Turkey between secularism and Islamism
Press Review
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12.
Conclusion
Press Review
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Research papers: you have to choose ONE topic among the large
set of topics
Science-Po Requirements
 Four-page long
 Double spaced
 Police 12
 one paper copy
 one copy by mail
 Dead-line: April, 14
Methodology
ABOUT THE RESEARCH PAPER
‘MLA Style’ required
Plagiarism  You have plagiarized if:
 You took notes that did not distinguish SUMMARY and PARAPHRASE from
quotations and then you presented wording from the notes as if it were all your OWN
 While browsing the Web, you copied text and pasted it into your research paper
without quotation marks or without citing the sources
 You presented facts without saying where you found them
 You can avoid plagiarism by:
 making a list of writers and viewpoints you discovered in your research and using this
list to double-check the presentation of material in your paper
The research paper as a form of exploration and communication Personal essays and
research papers
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During your previous scholarship you have probably written
many personal essays that presented your thoughts, feelings,
and opinions and that did not refer to any other source of
information or ideas (‘French Dissertation’)
Some subjects and assignments, however, require you to go
beyond your personal knowledge and experience
We undertake research when we wish to explore an idea,
probe an issue, solve a problem, or make and argument that
compels us to turn to outside help
The term ‘research paper’ describes a presentation of student
research that may be in an printed, an electronic, or a
multimedia format
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Types of research
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Using
secondary
research

Combining research
and original ideas

Different
approaches
to
research and writing
An
intellectual
adventure
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The research paper
as
a
form
of
communication
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The research paper is generally based on primary research,
secondary research, or a combination of the two.
Primary research is the study of a subject through firsthand
observation and investigation, such as analyzing a literacy or
historical text, a film, or a performance
Secondary research is the examination of studies that other
researchers have made of a subject. Examples of secondary
sources are books and articles about political issues, historical
events, scientific debates, or literacy works
Most academic papers depend at least partly on secondary
research. No matter what your subject of study, learning to
investigate, review, and productively use information, ideas,
and opinions of other researchers will play a major role in your
development as a student
Research increases your knowledge and understanding of a
subject. Sometimes research will confirm your ideas and
opinions; sometimes it will challenge and modify them. But
almost always it will times it will challenge and modify them.
A research paper should not merely review publications and
extract a series of quotations from them. Rather, you should
look for sources that provide new information, that helpfully
survey the various positions already taken on a specific
subject, that lend authority to your viewpoint, that expand or
nuance your ideas, that offer methods or modes of thought you
can apply to new data or subjects, or that furnish negative
examples against which you wish to argue.
Keeping in mind that researchers and projects differ.
The truth is that different paths can and do lead to successful
research papers
If you are writing your first research paper, you may feel
overwhelmed by the many tasks discussed here.
Actually, a research paper is a adventure, an intellectual
adventure rather like solving a mystery: it is a form of
exploration that leads to discoveries that are new-at least to
you if not to others
The mechanics of the research paper, important though they
are, should never override the intellectual challenge of
pursuing a question that interests you and ultimately your
reader!
A research paper is a form of written communication. Like
other kinds of nonfiction writing-letters, memos, reports,
essays, articles, books-it should present information and ideas
clearly and effectively
No set of conventions for preparing a manuscript can replace
lively and intelligent writing, and no amount of research and
documentation can compensate for a poor presentation of
ideas
Although you must fully document the facts and opinions
(what? Who? Where? How?) you draw from your research,
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Summing up
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the documentation should only support your statements and
provide concise information about the sources cited; it should
not overshadow your own ideas or distract the reader from
them
Give yourself plenty of time to think through and rethink your
choice of topic
Look for a subject or an issue that will continue to engage you
throughout research and writing
Consult library materials and other print and electronic
information resources to refine the topic and to see if sufficient
work has been done on the subject to make it a viable topic for
the research paper
Before settling on a final topic, make sure you understand the
amount and depth of research required and the type and length
of paper expected (4 page long at Sciences-Po)
The Mechanics of Writing Word division


Plurals

Spelling
to save time and avoid possible errors, DO NOT DIVIDE WORDS
AT THE ENDS OF LINES
if you choose to divide a word, consult your dictionary about where
the break should occur
the plural of English words are generally formed by adding the suffix
–s or –es (laws, taxes), with several exceptions, e.g. children, mice,
sons-in-law, halves…)

Approach

Commas


Punctuation
the primary purpose of punctuation is to ensure the clarity and
readability of writing
use a comma BEFORE a coordinating conjunction (and, for, but, not,
yet, or so) joining independent clauses in a sentence
 Congress passed the bill, and the President signed it into law
 Use commas to separate words, phrases, and clauses in a series
 But, use semicolons when items in a series have internal commas
 pollsters focused their efforts on Columbus, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa…
 Use a comma BETWEEN coordinate adjectives –that is, adjectives
that separately modify the same noun
 Clauses that begin with WHO, WHOM,WHOSE, WHICH, and
THAT
 Scientists, who must observe standards of objectivity in their work, can
contribute usefully to public-policy debates (nonrestrictive)
 Scientists who receive the Nobel Prize sometimes contributes usefully to
public-policy debates (restrictive)
 adverbial phrases and clauses
 The novel takes place in China, where many languages are spoken
(nonrestrictive)
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 The novel takes place in a land where many languages are spoken
(restrictive)
 Use a comma after a long introductory phrase or clause
 Use commas to set off alternative of contrasting phrases
 the President remains a tragic figure, despite his appalling actions
 DO NOT USE COMMAS BETWEEN SUBJECT and VERB
 DO NOT USE COMMAS BETWEEN VERB and OBJECT
 DO NOT USE A COMMA BETWEEN THE PARTS OF A
COMPOUND SUBJECT, COMPOUND OBJECT, OR COMPUND
VERB
 DO NOT USE A COMMA BETWEEN TWO PARALLEL
SUBORDINATE ELEMENTS
 Use a comma in a date whose order is MONTH, DAY, and YEAR
 Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, and died on April
4, 1968
 DO NOT USE COMMAS WITH DATES WHOSE ORDER IS
DAY, MONTH, AND YEAR
 Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on 15 January 1929 and died on 4
April 1968
 DO NOT USE A COMMA BETWEEN A MONTH AND A YEAR
or BETWEEN a season and a year
 The events of July 1789 are so familiar to the French as those of July
1776 are to Americans
Semicolons
 Use a semicolon between two independent clauses not linked by a
conjunction
 The coat is tattered beyond repair; still, he hopes the tailor can mend it
 Use semicolons between items in a series when the items contain
commas
 Present at the symposium were Henry Guillaume, the art critic; Sam
Brown, the Daily Tribune reporter; and Maria Rosa, the conceptual artist

Colons
 The colon is used between two parts of a sentence when the first part
creates a sense of anticipation about what follows in the second.
Leave only one space after a colon, not two
 Use a colon to introduce a list, an elaboration of what was just said,
or the formal expression of a rule or principle
 The reading list includes three American novels: The Death of Artemio
Cruz, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and the Green House (=List)
 The plot is founded on deception: the three main characters have secret
identities (=Elaboration)
 Many books would be briefer of their authors followed the logical
principle known as Occam’s razor: Explanations should not be multiplied
unnecessarily (=Rule or Pinciple; a rule or a principle after a colon should
begin with a capital letter)
 Use a colon to introduce a quotation that is independent from the
structure of the main sentence
Dashes
and
 Dashes make a sharper break in the continuity of the sentence than
Parentheses
commas do
 Parentheses make a still sharper one
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
Hyphens
Apostrophes
Use dashes or parentheses to enclose a sentence element that
interrupts the train of thought
 Soaring in a balloon—inventors first performed this feat in 1783—is a
way to recapture the wonder that early aviators must have felt
 Use dashes or parentheses to set off a parenthetical element that
contains a comma and that might be misread it set off with commas
 The colors of the costume—blue, scarlet, and yellow—acquire symbolic
 Use a dash to introduce words that summarize a preceding series
 Compound words of all types/nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on-are
written as SEPARATE WORDS: hard drive, hard labor, hard power,
soft power. But with hyphens: hard-and-fast, hard-boiled…
 Use a hyphen in a compound adjective beginning with an adverb
such as better, best, ill, lower, little, or well when the adjective
precedes a noun. But DO NOT USE A HYPHEN WHEN THE
COMPOUND ADJECTIVE COME AFTER THE NOUN IT
MODIFIES
 Better-prepared ambassador
 Best-known work
 The ambassador was better prepared than the other delegates
 Use a hyphen in a compound adjective formed by a number and a
noun when the adjective precedes the noun
 Second-semester course
 Use a hyphen in other compound adjectives before nouns to prevent
misreading
 Continuing-education program; English-language student
 DO NOT USE HYPHENS IN FAMILIAR UNHYPENATED
COMPOUND TERMS such as SOCIAL SECURITY,
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, HIGH SCHOOL, SHOW
BUSINESS, when they appear before nouns as modifiers
 Use hyphens to join coequal nouns
 Writer-critic; scholar-athlete
 DO NOT USE HYPHENS AFTER PREFIXES: e.g., anti-, co-,
multi-, non-, over-, post-, pre-, re-, sub-, un-, under Antiwar; coworker; multinational; postwar; subsatellite; underrepresented
 exception: “Post-Victorian”
 A principal function of apostrophes is to indicate possession; they are
also used to form contractions (can’t, wouldn’t) which are
UNACCEPTABLE IN RESEARCH PAPERS
 Use apostrophes to form the possessive of a singular noun: add an
apostrophe AND an s
 A poem’s meter
The dean’s list
 Use apostrophes to form the possessive of a PLURAL NOUN ending
in s: add only an apostrophe
 tourist’s luggage
 Use apostrophes to form the possessive of an irregular plural noun
not ending in s: add an apostrophe AND an s
 Children’s entertainment
 The media’s role
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 Women’s studies
 Use apostrophes to form the possessive of any singular proper noun:
add an apostrophe AND an s
 Marx’s precepts
 Bernard Kouchner’s reputation in the Middle East

NUMBERS
 If you are writing about literature or another subject that involves
infrequent use of numbers, you may spell out numbers written in one
or two words and represent other numbers (one, thirty-six, ninetynine, fifteen hundred, two thousand, three million, but 1,275…)
 In dates: 1 April 2001; April 1, 2001
 In page references: page 7
 For large numbers, you may use a combination of numerals and
words: 4.5 million; from 1 billion to 1,2 billion
 Commas are usually placed between the third and fourth digits from
the right, the sixth and seventh, and so on: 1,000; 20,000; 7,665,567
 Following are some of the exceptions in the practice:
 On page 1 000
 At 4321 Broadway
 in 1999
 Use numerals with the appropriate symbols : you treat percentages
and amounts of money like other numbers
 1%
 $38,76
 BUT: two thousand dollars. DO NOT COMBINE SPELLED FORMS
OF NUMBERS WITH SYMBOLS
 Dates and times of the day: be consistent in writing dates. Use either
the DAY-MONTH-YEAR style (22 July 1999) or the MONTHDAY-YEAR style (July 22, 1999) BUT NOT BOTH. You must
hyphenate centuries when they are used as adjectives before nouns
the twentieth century thought
 Decades are usually written out without capitalization (the nineties);
the abbreviation BC FOLLOWS the year (19 BC), BUT AD precedes
it (AD 565). You may use like some writers who prefer to use BCE
(=before the common era)
TITLES
 The rules for capitalizing are strict. In a title or a subtitle,
CAPTALIZE the FIRST WORD, the LAST WORD, and all
principal words, including that follow hyphens in compound terms
 DO NOT CAPITALIZE the following parts of speech when they fall
in the middle of a title
 Use a colon and a space to separate a title from a subtitle, unless the
title ends in a question mark, an exclamation point, or a dash
QUOTATIONS
 Quotations are effective in research papers when used selectively.
Quote only words, phrases, lines, and passages that are particularly
interesting, vivid, unusual, or apt, and keep all quotations as brief as
possible. Overquotation can bore your readers and might lead them to
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conclude that you are neither an original thinker nor a skillful writer
Methodology. ‘Exposé’
 10 minutes
 One introduction
 One conclusion
 Two parts ( I;II)
Model of an outline:
IEP de Paris – 2nd semester 2008-2009
Class: The Middle East: Perspectives and Controversies, Challenges and
Choices
Instructor : Michel GOUSSOT
Students: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
March 12th, 2009
Topic: State and Gender in the Middle East
Introduction
Women’s discrimination is not a specific issue of the Middle East, it has been present all over
the world during centuries. In some countries the role of the women has changed during the
time but there are also countries where there is still a huge inequality between the genders. The
Middle East is one of the regions where the women’s positions are the worst in the world.
There, gender segregation remains customary, if not legally required. Gender consists in
ascribing roles to men and women through custom or law and is also implicates the cultural
understandings of “feminine” and “masculine”. The state is the major determinant of women’s
legal and economic status because of its role in the legislation that shapes opportunities for
women (family law, education, health).
To what extent does the state influence the women’s status in the societies of the Middle
Eastern countries? Are there other factors shaping the role of women?
I.
States establishing a strong gender differentiation
1. The Sharia: the core of the legislation a. The Sharia’s perception of the women’s status b. In which countries is the Sharia the basis of the legislation? c. The Sharia and the establishment of patriarchal societies 2. The use of the Sharia by the states to justify discrimination against women 27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64
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II.
a. Middle Eastern States: different interpretations of the Sharia b. Discriminative legislations and the exclusion of women
c. Turkey, Iran
Are there other non-governmental actors supporting or working against the
gender discrimination established by the state?
1. Actors against the improvement of the women’s status a. Differences between law and practices b. Islamic women’s movements c. Taliban/ Al Qaida 2. Work for the improvement of women’s status a. Examples of women’s movements b. Was there an improvement? Conclusion
As we have seen the state is not the only actor to influence the treatment of women in the
countries of the Middle East. There are several actors trying to improve their role but also
actors working against a better status for women.
We could also wonder if the international community could play a role in strengthening
women’s rights. The United Nations have already adopted a Convention for the Elimination of
all Forms of Discrimination against Women. It has been ratified by many Middle Eastern
States such as Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, etc. However, these states entered reservations to
particular articles of the Convention which prevent it to be concretely applied in the Middle
East and don’t allow women to be granted with rights such as freedom of movement or
protection from family violence. However, even if this Convention was applied we could
wonder whether this could change the women’s role in the Middle East or if the initiative has
to come from the Middle Eastern States and its people?
Bibliography

GELVIN, J.L., The Modern Middle East, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Express, 2008.

MOGHADAM, V. M., From Patriarchy to Empowerment. Women’s Participaion, Movements, and Rights in
the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2007.

MOGHADAM V. M., Modernizing women: gender and social change in the Middle East, Boulder, Colo :
Rienner, 1993.

SUAD, J., Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East, New York: Suracuse University Press, 2000.

SUAD J., SLYOMOVICS S., Women and Power in the Middle East, Philadelphia, Penn: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2001.

Banque internationale pour la reconstruction et le dévelopement, Inégalités entre les sexes et développement au
Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord: les femmes dans la sphère publique, Paris : Eska; Washington: Banque
Mondiale, 2004.

"Gender, politics and the State: what do Middle Eastern women want?", in Middle East Policy, 1997, vol.5,
n°3.

Global Gender Gap Report 2007.
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KEY TERMS/DEFINITIONS
Copyright Michel Goussot 2011
The power to act, speak, or think as one wants without
FREEDOM
restraint or hindrance. Absence of subjection to foreign
domination or despotic government
The state of being free within society from oppressive
Liberty
restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life,
behavior, or political views
The power tor scope to act as one please
An unilateral intervention exists when a state or a small
Unilateral/Multilateral
group of states are uninvited into the affairs of another
intervention
state without the approval or sanction of some larger
international organization such as the United Nations (e.g.
War in Iraq, 2003)
A multilateral intervention: uninvited INTEREFERENCE
in the DOMESTIC AFFAIRS of another state carried out
by many nations with the approval or sanction of a
legitimate international organization such as the United
Nations
The principle that governments must derive their
Popular sovereignty
legitimacy from the people over whom they rule
embodied in the French an American Revolutions, this
assertion challenged the principle of divine right of the
kings
Agreement designed to prevent the SPREAD of
Nuclear Non Proliferation
NUCLEAR WEAPONS existing nuclear powers
Treaty ( NNPT), 1968
promised NOT TO AID others in acquiring nuclear
weapons agreed not to build them; only three nations have
not signed the NNPT – Israel, India, Pakistan;
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an
organization charged with MONITORING
COMPLIANCE with the NNPT
A strategic reality and doctrine in which any use of nuclear
Mutual Assured Destruction
weapons would inevitably entail one’s own destruction
(MAD)
achieved when each party possess an invulnerable secondstrike capability
An attack intended to disarm an nation before it has the
Preemptive strike
chance to use its nuclear weapons
Views terrorist attack as ACTS OF WAR and assumes that
Statist interpretation or
the most effective strategy for combating terrorism
response
requires putting pressure on those states that actively
support or passively tolerate terrorist organizations
Cosmopolitan interpretation or Conceptualizes terrorist attacks as CRIMINAL ACTS
requiring an international, multilateral response within the
response
context of international law and organizations as a longterm strategy, it involves addressing the root causes of
terrorism, which are usually identified as poverty,
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INTERNATIONAL LAW
International Law: ARTICLE
38 of THE STATUTE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL COURT
inequality, and discontent
INTERNATIONAL LAW is generally viewed as the
customs, norms, principles, rules and other legal relations
among states and other international personality that
establish binding obligations.
According to HEDLEY BULL, “International law may be
regarded as a BODY OF RULES which binds states and
other agents in world politics with one another”
Historically, INTERNATIONAL LAW has involved
states –i.e. the rights and obligations of states vis-à-vis
each other
This provision is incorporated largely because
international law over the past few decades has gradually
moved beyond a sole focus on states; HUMAN RIGHTS,
for example, are increasingly part of INTERNATIONAL
LAW. This area of law entails that states have some
obligations toward their citizens and citizens have rights
that their governments are REQUIRED to RESPECT
-
-
-
-
-
First: International conventions, whether general or
particular, establishing rules expressly recognized
by consenting parties
Second: International customs, as evidence of a
general practice accepted as law
Third: The general principles of law recognized by
civilized nations
Fourth: Judicial decisions and the teachings of the
most highly qualified publicists of the various
nations
Treaties and conventions are FORMAL, written
documents that specify behaviors that states agree
to engage in or refrain from
Some treaties, such as NUCLEAR ARMS
CONTROL AGREEMENTS signed by the United
States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War,
are bilateral, whereas others, such as the
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY
(1968) involve virtually other nations
But whether a treaty involves two or more nations,
it obligates signatories to abide by its terms: the
difference is in the SCOPE of the treaty, not its
NATURE. Treaties in INTERNATIONAL LAW
are equivalent to what we refer to as
CONTRACTS in DOMESTIC LAW
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