AIR703 - The Middle East in a Multipolar World
| Year: | 2026 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Online |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Cohort rule: | Nil |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150 hours over the trimester undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
| Scheduled learning activities - campus: | 1 x 1-hour on-campus lecture per week 1 x 1-hour on-campus seminar per week |
| Scheduled learning activities - online: | 1 x 1-hour online lecture per week 1 x 1-hour online seminar per week |
Content
This unit examines how regional players in the Middle East pursue hedging strategies in their foreign policy and diplomacy against the backdrop of great power competition. The Middle East presents significant opportunities and challenges for great powers, but also complex diplomatic challenges. It serves as a significant source of hydrocarbon to fuel the global economy yet suffers from major political ruptures that reverberate far and wide. As a result, the Middle East has occupied some of the great minds in foreign policy thinking and global affairs. The unit investigates key transnational issues that shape the region. It explores how religion, ethnicity and ideologies interplay with the Westphalian model of nation-states, at one level challenging the Westphalian model and at another level serving as instruments of foreign policy by regional powers. This examination will cover sectarianism, regional rivalries, proxy wars, and their impact on regional security. It also examines how the desire for political representation, exemplified by the Arab Spring, sparked a wave of political change and conflict across the region, heightening regional insecurity. While seeking to explore the roots of these insecurities, the unit also considers the emergence of new, innovative diplomatic initiatives, such as the efforts by countries such as Qatar and China to broker solutions to seemingly intractable conflicts like those between Israel and the Palestinian Authority/Hamas, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the Taliban and the United States in Afghanistan.
Unit fee information
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