Lecture: "A Brief History of Nearly Everything: The Reemergence of
International Relations in the Middle East" (January 10, 2013)
In the news this week
• Iran's revenue has plummeted due to increased sanctions
• Prisoner swap of Iranian prisoners and Syrian prisoners, brokered by Turkey
• 3 Kurdish activists (PKK) killed in Paris
• Abugrae prison, used in early years of Iraq war, site of prisoner abuse and
torture, has resulted in a lawsuit payout by the defense contractor for the
prisoner to former prisoners
• Egypt brokers talks between Palestinian parties
What is the Middle East?
• Turkey and Iran are controversial inclusions because they're not part of the
Arab world
• (see different maps on slides)
• one map called MENA, or Middle East and North Africa
• one map is the Arab world
• one map is Arab world + Turkey and Iran
Clash of Civilizations (Huntington)
• civilizations: the West, Islam, Confucius, Japanese, Slavic, Indian, Latin
American, African
• "Western bloody borders with Islam"
• is civilization clash an accurate level of analysis?
◦ perhaps too must focus of civilization, ignoring internal state conflict
• identity vs. interest? (one of the responses)
• conflict and/or cooperation? (one of the responses)
◦ somewhat overlooks the numerous levels of cooperation that exist
between civilizations
• temporal relevance?
◦ do certain pieces have more significance during certain periods in
history (think Fukuyama)
• many of his critics took back their words after 9/11
◦ resurgence in clash theory
◦ "othering" process in the US post-9/11
• response: David Brooks NYTimes articles during the Arab Spring
◦ clash might not exist among the people of these Middle Eastern
countries, for they are pushing for Western political values in the
Arab Spring
• relevance for foreign policy???
Rewind: Western Powers and Emerging Mid East (Pre-WWI)
• Britain and France liked having influence in Ottoman empire, didn't want it to
fall necessarily
• oil interest in the region didn't really exist
• more of a geopolitical and commercial interest in the Middle East
• B & F seen as benevolent protectorates that profited from their presence in the
region WWI: Let's Make a Deal
• deal making mostly by Britain for the war effort
• contradictory agreements
◦ Britain and Arabs
▪ McMahon-Husein Correspondence (1915-1916)
▪ Britain would support the creation of Arab state if Hussein
state would join the Allies
◦ Britain and France
▪ Sykes-Picot agreement (1916)
▪ looking at parts of the region not subject to their influence,
to divide them up into spheres of influence like with
Africa
▪ Britain would have zone leading into Iraq (see map), while
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