Political Development in the Arab World

The purpose of this course is to situate important theoretical debates on the determinants and dynamics of political development in the contemporary empirical realities in the Arab world. Specifically, students are challenged to employ their understanding of the modern political landscape in Arab countries to evaluate seminal scholarly works theorizing the origins of political development. That is, how can the dynamics of political change and continuity in the Arab world inform and refine our broader understanding of fundamental questions we care about as political scientists: Why does authoritarianism persist? How can autocracy coexist with economic development and liberalization? How do the international political economy and external actors shape the boundaries for political change in a given country? How do we make sense of the paradoxical combination of elections and authoritarian rule?