This course covers the evolution of politics in the Middle East after the break-up of the Ottoman Empire until today. Students will learn about the state formation processes in the Middle East, the different forms of nationalisms, wars between states, civil wars, political systems and democracies. In addition to that, the course provides ample literature on development and economic growth in the region. This means we will cover the political economy of states in the Middle East and the role of natural resources, mainly oil and gas in the region, at the domestic, regional and international level.

This course will give students an overview of different conflict scenarios and approaches towards conflict resolution that are crucial to understand the underlying aspects that have led to impactful developments in the fields of politics, business and international relations.

Over the past 20 years terrorist attacks and reactions to political violence have strongly influenced academic debates, international politics and news reporting around the world. The overflow of terrorist threats and global counterterror campaigns have drastically impacted the worldviews of millions of people and encouraged political and military decisions that changed international alliances and led to ideological shifts in regional and world politics.

This course considers the history of the Arab­Israeli conflict since the founding of the State of Israel and its impact on the regional and international political map, including: the interference of international powers in this conflict, the political contexts of the wars of 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, and the process of peace (the peace conference in Madrid, the Oslo Accords, and the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan), the problem of the Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farms.

The understanding of different contexts in which negotiations take place and techniques that are applied to reach certain goals is a crucial foundation for work in legal and political settings in an ever faster changing world with quickly shifting stakeholder interests and thereby naturally arising conflicts, from regional to global levels. Thus, an overview of different conflict scenarios and approaches towards negotiations and conflict resolution needs to be established in order to understand the underlying aspects that have led to impactful developments in the fields of politics, business and international relations. The main objective of this course is to give the students a broad introduction to different forms of conflicts and their causations as well as measures that led to progress towards resolutions. It also aims to provide the basic analytical and psychological foundations to see through the main aspects of conflicts and to develop tactical and strategic awareness. The first part of the course will focus on the broader theoretical foundations of negotiations, covering psychological aspects, the role of narratives and the broader international and intercultural playing field. Once these foundations are established the students will apply these skills in the analysis of conflict scenarios based on a broad range of case studies and interactive negotiation activities.

This course covers, in detail, aspects of the Lebanese political system, the various political powers and their ways of operating, including, the office of the president, cabinet, parliament, and judicial practices. This course also explains the community structure in Lebanon. It also introduces students to the Lebanese Constitution and its evolution since 1926.