The Middle East in Modern History - Period 5+6 Business & Economics Program Spring 2022 Semester - Extended - Amsterdam

The Middle East is almost continuously right in the centre of public attention. Whereas in the nineteenth century Europeans and Americans still considered the region to be located at the margins of their world, since then it has reclaimed a central role in the world?s political imagination. Why is that ? and how did this process develop during the last century? This course will offer a broad overview of the history of the Middle East since 1800, while continuously connecting it to world politics at large. From the restructuring of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-nineteenth century, the rise of political Islam, the impact of the First and Second World Wars to Zionism and the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Cold War and the War on Terror, this course will present students with a grand narrative of the region?s history and its major ethnic and religious components. Moreover, the course will critically challenge common perceptions of the Middle East, deconstructing established categories and introducing students to the major theories in the field of Middle Eastern Studies.

Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.