PSCI251 - INTRODUCTION TO THE ISRAELI-PALISTINIAN CONFLICT

In this course the Arab-Israeli dispute from 1948 to the present will serve as a vehicle for understanding how domestic and global political processes interact to shape, contain, or aggravate Middle Eastern wars between states and non-state actors. Particular stress will be placed on understanding how wars affect international politics in states and political organizations and how ideological and structural features of states and organizations find expression in wars and complicate or enable the search for peach. In addition, the key features of the conflict will be interpreted as both a clash between the political interests of national and/or religious groups and as a reflection of global political power struggles. Attention will be given toward the end of the course to alternative ideas about possible resolution of the conflict as well as to the increasingly prominent argument that, in this case, there is no solution.