THE NEW MIDDLE EAST:  DEMOCRACY, AUTHORITARIANISM AND/OR TERRORISM?
Instructor:  Dr. Robert G. Rabil

Course Description:  This course attempts to gain a contextual understanding of the politics and trends of some Muslim majority countries in the Greater Middle East.  Rather than questioning whether democracy would develop in Muslim majority countries in the Greater Middle East, this course examines how political authorities are facing the challenges of socio-political transitions that largely resulted from the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and promotion of democracy there. In addition to surveying the political evolution of the concerned countries, the course will pay special attention to the politics of the so-called reform, the role of women in Muslim societies, Muslim percep-
tions of US foreign policy, and the role of these countries in the global war on terrorism.

Six Lectures:

        Set One:
                   1.  Egypt:  The Dance around Democracy?
                   2.  Syria:   Maintaining the old regional order?
                   3.  Turkey:  Democracy by Islamists?
          Set Two:
                   4.  Iran:  Re-revolutionizing the Islamist revolution?
                   5.  Pakistan:  Suppressing democracy?
                   6.  Lebanon:  The Struggle for the Middle East?

Biographical Information:  Robert G. Rabil has a Masters in Government from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University.  He has written extensively on Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, US-Arab Relations, Reform in the Arab World and radical Islam and Terrorism. He is a frequent speaker at major university campuses and a frequent media commentator. Dr. Rabil is assistant professor and director of graduate studies in the Political Science Department at FAU.