ATS2698: Middle East Politics: Continuity, change, conflict, and co-operation

Tutorial participation 10%, Major Essay (3000 words) 50%, Exam 40%

Middle East Politics is a really fantastic unit. If you're keen to be able to know what the news stories are on about, and wanting to be able to understand their significance and context, then this unit is perfect! Ben MacQueen is a really good lecturer. I have taken a couple of his units, and they have all been well run and his lectures always interesting. I had Alex as a tutor, and she was incredibly engaging and challenged me to understand topics a little deeper than what was covered in the textbook and lectures. I felt like she was a very fair marker (perhaps a too generous, giving me 8/10 for participation when I said like 4 words max. for the entire semester). Alex was also very accessible. She answered emails promptly, and made time to be meet me even when it was outside her consult hour. She really helped me out with my major essay, more so than most other tutors I've had!

Outline of the unit:
Each week generally had a specific theme, but it was obviously hard to cover everything in 12 weeks so a lot of content was crammed into lectures and readings. The first couple of weeks were spent looking at the Ottoman Empire and Colonial Period in order to provide some background and context to more current events. Following that, from week 4 - 11 topics included:

- Superpower rivalry and the Cold War in the Middle East
- Nationalism, Islamism and Ideology
- Authoritarianism in the ME
- Oil, Economy and Development
- The Military, Security and Politics
- US Military Intervention
- Israel, Palestine and the Peace Process
- Democratisation and the Arab Uprisings

Obviously, it was crazy trying to cram in huge topics such as 'democratisation and the Arab Uprisings' into one one-hour lecture, so the readings were relied on quite a bit! I personally felt as though the unit moved on so quickly each week that I was always one step behind and trying to catch up, but by the end everything just started to click into place and I loved it. It's great to be able to read any news article on the Middle Eats now, and know what has happened there, who's involved, what the outcome could be and where it is! Having gone into the unit being mildy interested in the area, yet completely uneducated about it, I really think it was an informative and great unit to learn the basic background to soooo many topics!

The textbook is really good. It was a chapter for each week, so it was very easy to follow and keep track of where you were if, say, you happened to skip a week's reading... Ben MacQueen wrote the book specifically for the unit, so it's all relevant to the subject, unlike other textbooks! It was quite a dense read, but plenty of photos and maps to break things up!

Assessment:
The biggest assessment piece is the major essay, worth 50%. It's basically a standard 3000 word research essay answering one of the 10 questions available to us. I did mine on the characteristics of US military and security engagement in the Middle East since the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. There was a really good variety of topics to choose from, so at least one would be appealing!

The exam, worth 40%, was split into three parts. The first was essentially a blank map, where knowledge of key places was tested. The second section was multiple choice, testing important dates (mostly). The third section was short answer, covering a range of topics from Israel's nuclear program to future challenged for the US in the Middle East. I liked the format of the exam, it was really different to anything I had done before, particularly in Arts.
This would have to be one of the best units I have taken so far... I can't actually think of any others where I felt disappointed that it was over like I did for this one! It was challenging and fast-paced, but very rewarding and eye-opening. Only downsides I can think of includes the tutorial participation marks (I'm never a fan of that), the shitty ancient lecture theatre we had the lectures in, and the inconvenient 9am Monday morning lecture

Ben MacQueen

None, and no sample exams.

4.5 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture

Prescribed text is 'An Introduction to Middle East Politics' by Benjamin MacQueen. It is necessary, as each chapter has a week dedicated to it. Handy to follow!

1 x 1 hour lecture and 1 x 1 hour tutorial weekly

2014 Semester 2

TBA