Contributor(s): Fawaz Gerges | The course is intended to provide an analysis of the regional politics of the Middle East since 1918, and of their interaction with problems of international security, global resources and great power/super power/hyperpower politics. The emergence of the states system in the Middle East during the inter-war period. The interplay of domestic politics, regional conflicts and international rivalries. The Cold War and post-Cold War significance of the Middle East in global politics. The importance of oil and other economic factors and interests. Conflict in the Gulf and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The foreign policies of major Middle Eastern states and the Lebanese civil war. The role of ideologies and social movements: Arab nationalism, militarism, political Islam and global jihadism. State and non-state actors. Democracy and human rights issues. International relations theory and its significance for the study of Middle East politics.