POL 442 - Research Seminar: Institutions and Identity in the Greater Middle East

The seminar includes three core components.  The first half of the course examines various approaches to the study of institutional design and identity formation, with an emphasis on the Middle East.  The second half of the course examines several cases in greater depth:  Sudan, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.  Students also develop and complete a research project.  The class covers a sequence of research methods, with a focus on qualitative methodologies ranging from archival research to literature reviews interprevitivst methods and interviewing. Short assignments accompanying these units form the “building blocks” of students’ final research papers.​