Elham Manea: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2019

Name PD Dr. Elham Manea
E-mailelham.manea@gess.ethz.ch
DepartmentHumanities, Social and Political Sciences
RelationshipLecturer

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
851-0101-65LRegional Politics of the Arabian Peninsula Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 30
3 credits2VE. Manea
AbstractThe course examines how the internal power structures of selected arabian peninsula countries shape foreign policies and regional politics. It looks in particular at Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen in detail, from state formation to current affairs and from local to international government.
ObjectiveUnderstand the type of political systems prevalent on the Arabian peninsula, religious denominations, sectarian rivalry, and how these shape regional relations.
ContentThe neighbouring states of the Arabian Peninsula - especially Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen - make for strange bedfellows. They are governed by different systems with different results, calling into question how their internal policies affect regional relations and vice versa. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, a prosperous, religious and restrictive state increasingly facing problems of social/political unrest. Oman is a small, thriving, stable sultanate, modernised and moderate but tightly controlled; and the republic of Yemen, which has the region's poorest economy, sunk into the mire of civil ear. Each state adheres to a different Islamic sect, moreover, and though their populations are overwhelmingly Arab, differing tribal structures result in widely variant effects on the political process in their respective systems. Each state has also had extensive historical relationships with the Ottoman and British empires, the US and Russia, and these too have colored regional relations. More recent events such as the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the American-led invasion of Iraq, the Arab uprisings of 2011 and the on-going civil strife in Yemen have further affected their dealing with one another and with the world at large. This course examines each country in detail, from state formation to current affairs and from local to international government.