Professor Akacem
Econ 4999-004
Fall 2007
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Office: Econ 115
Office Hours: 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Monday and Wednesday
and by appointment.
Prequesites for this
course: Econ 3070 and Econ 3080. If you signed up for this course
but have not taken these courses, I will assume that you are able to follow the
discussion and material coverage on economic policy and theory covered in the
pre-requesites. This will also be necessary for your
paper and final exam, since you need to show your understanding of the major
economic issues for the country or region that you choose.
Objective of the Course:
This course will deal with the overall political economy of the
The course has several objectives:
First, the course will help you understand and discuss the relevant issues
that are important to this region as well as its strategic importance to the
West and the
Second, the course will also help you identify the religious, historical, social, political, economic and security issues that affect the region as a whole. Again, students are encouraged to read the papers (print and via the Web) to discuss ongoing developments either for the whole region or developments that affect their particular country or countries. The emphasis will be on the economic development, policy and overall economic issues facing your country or region of interest.
Third, we will also make an attempt to compare the Economic and Political developments in the region with other regions of the world. Has democracy taken hold? Why or why not? Has the region achieved sustainable economic growth and development? Why or why not? Finally and the schedule allows for it, I will invite a number of outside speakers who will speak to the class on specific topics, such as the role of Islam, politics in the region, the economic models chosen by these countries and why, and other topics by people who have lived in the region.
Fourth: At least two thirds-or more- of your paper will have to deal with economic issues of the country, region, topic at hand. Remember, this is an Econ course.
Fifth: E-Reserves has a number of articles posted on it. These will be assigned in class as the material and the topic as well as the events are fluid and change so we need to be flexible. The list of articles will be expanded.
Main Sources:
1. Political Economy of the
Middle East, Second Edition, by Alan Richards and John Waterbury, Westview Press, 1998. Recommended chapters for your
projects and papers:
Chapers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. The
book will left on Reserve at the library.
International Monetary Fund: Regional Economic Outlook, September 2006 and 2005
found respectively at:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2006/eng/01/mreo0506.pdf
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2005/eng/meca0905.pdf
Special issue of Finance and Development on the Middle East and North Africa @:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/index.htm
Other Sources and Reports:
2. Arab Human Development Report 2003, United Nations Development Program,
2003 found at:
http://www.miftah.org/Doc/Reports/Englishcomplete2003.pdf
Or:
http://hdr.undp.org/reports/
and the UNDP Information Portal Dedicated to Development and Governance in the
Arab Region at:
http://www.pogar.org/
3. Arab World Competitiveness
Report 2002-2003, The World Economic Forum,
4. For data on the region from the UNDP and
the Human Development Reports and Development indicators for the region:
http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/
5. An authorative source for international oil data
from BP and other sources:
http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=91&contentId=7017990
The Joint Oil Data Initiative:
http://www.jodidata.org/FileZ/ODTmain.htm
Energy Information Agency:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/
International section of the EIA:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/contents.html
EIA's country's analysis briefs:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/contents.html
The International Energy Agency (Paris) (do not confuse with the EIA, part of
the US Department of Energy)
http://www.iea.org/
The Oil and Gas Journal:
http://www.ogj.com/index.cfm
The Oil and Gas Journal International:
http://www.oilandgasinternational.com/
6. The Arab Social Science Research:
http://www.assr.org/
7 . The Gulf 2000 Site: Covers the following countries:
8. The IMF and the World Bank
The IMF:
http://www.imf.org/
Page where the list of recent Article IV reports are found:
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/aiv/index.htm
Country information page:
http://www.imf.org/external/country/index.htm
Finance and Development:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2006/09/index.htm
The World Bank:
http://www.worldbank.org/
Special page on the Middle East and North Africaf:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/MENAEXT/0,,menuPK:247603~pagePK:158889~piPK:146815~theSitePK:256299,00.html
9. Other Websites:
The International Crisis Group http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm
Middle East Studies Association
http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/
University of Texas, Austin
http://menic.utexas.edu/menic.html
Harvard University http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~mideast/
There is one site out of Egypt whose address: http://www.erf.org.eg/ . It also
carries reports on the whole region.
10. Optional from the library and for your
paper projects:
Peter Mansfield, A History of the
H.W. Brands, Into the
Labyrinth: The
Ian J. Bickerton
and Carla L. Klausner, A Concise History of the
Arab-Israeli Conflict (4th edition)
James F. Hoge, Jr. and Gideon Rose (editors),
How Did This Happen? Terrorism and
the New War
Read the National Security
Directive 54, ordering the
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB21/06-01.htm
I have the whole document
and I can try to have you access it on the web from my site but you should read
part or the whole CIA document on the 1953 as published by the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html.
The Politics of Oil: see F.
Gregory Gause, III, Oil Monarchies , chapter 3
on “Oil and Politics.” Available from McGill University-Universite
de Montreal Interuniversity Consortium on Arab Studies:
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/icas/gause/chapter3.html
Democracy in the Arab World, see Daniel Brumberg,
“Liberalization versus Democracy:
Understanding Arab Political Reform,”
http://www.ceip.org/files/pdf/wp37.pdf
11. Other Sources:
You have to subscribe to (or have access to) either The Wall Street Journal
, The New York Times or The Economist and The Financial Times.
"The 9/11 Commission Report" for those who are interested to look at it, found on the web at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/
We will be viewing a number of case studies, the order of which will be determined after we clear the presentation schedule and the topics from the class.
Newspapers from the Region:
12.
http://www.uae-pages.com/me-newspaper.htm,
some papers are in Arabic, just ignore those (some of you may be able to read
Arabic but most probably won't.)
COURSE OUTLINE:
Week One: Introduction, discussion of
sources, and topic discussion
Week Two:
Week Two: Continued: Begin Intro lecture on the key issues on economic policy
of the region
Waterbury, chapter 8
Week Three: Chapters 1 and 2 from the 2005 IMF regional report http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2005/eng/meca0905.pdf
and the 2006 reports (complete) at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2006/eng/01/mreo0506.pdf
Week Four: Will continue with the IMF special reports on the region.
Week Five: IMF's Financial and Development.
Unfulfilled promise @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/abed.htm
and Living Better @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/eken.htm
Week Six: Labor Markets @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/gard.htm
and @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/benn.htm
Week Seven: Banking and Financial Markets: @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/crea.htm
Islamic Banking: Timur Kuran's
article in E-Reserve (Islam and Mamon), Akacem's article on IS banking on E-Reserve and from the
newly publsihed book on Islam and Globalization as
well as other sources which will be discussed in class.
Week Eight: Foreign Exchange Markets and exchange rate regimes: @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/jbil.htm
and @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/cash.htm
and chapter 3 from the IMF's 2005 report @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2005/eng/meca0905.pdf
Week Nine: Future Generations' Funds and the Management of Oil Wealth:
Akacem and Miller: OPEC: A Property Rights
Perspective on E-Reserve
IMF, Finance and Development on Managing Oil Wealth @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/eife.htm
and
@ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2003/03/barn.htm
and from the IMF's 2005 report @ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2005/eng/meca0905.pdf,
table 2.2, page 22 and 25 no the Objectives of the future Oil funds
Week Ten and the first class of week 12th: "Oil in Troubled Waters"
from the Economist On E-Reserve, Lecture material on property rights theories
and Case Studies if times permits.
Week 11: Presentations country studies
Week 12: Presentations country studies
Week 13: Fall Break and Thanksgiving
Week 14: Presentations of country studies
Week 15: We should be done with the presentations by this week. We will proceed
with more case/studies and new material.
Grading:
Each student will have to complete the following:
1.
The paper will count for 30% of your
grade. The paper should be between 20 and 25 pages, double spaced NOT counting
the title page and the bibliography. Remember, that is the maximum. It is the
content that counts, however. If you
have an appendix, that is not counted in paper size.
Each student will do one project. The paper needs to emphasize the economic
policy aspects-and political and religious when necessary but the emphasis
should be on the economic analysis- and be analytical and NOT descriptive. What
the major economic problems facing your country? How did it face them? What
sorts of economic policy (ies) were followed to
address them? What would you recommend? You need to have a clear paper backed
up by data and very good sources. Relying on Web sources only will not do.
You need to have a solid list of resources such as scholarly articles, books,
reports, etc... If need be, your paper will address the different issues facing
the given country (economic, social, religious, political, military etc...) and
produces an outlook for the future (not necessarily a forecast). Given the
region under study, you may choose to do something on oil and its importance to
the region and the world economy. Dependence on oil by the region is also a
topic worthy of consideration.. Remember, you need to
make sure that your paper is well written, complete with references and
footnotes and a bibliography. Do not merely summarize what reports already
written by others. You need to have a clear thesis and a theme, argue your case
and come with policy recommendations. If you need help, consult me and the
You should submit a paper copy, with title page and a complete
bibliography. The latter should have three parts: 1. Scholarly articles, 2.
Books and 3. Acceptable web sources. In addition, you should hand in a CD with
both your presentation AND your paper on it by the
Last Day of class, Wednesday December 12th, 2007or before if
you are done. Late paper will be graded down by one letter
grade.
2. By the end of the first week of class, each student should
hand in a typed two or three page outline/proposal for their topic. This should
include a detailed outline, thesis, methodology and
data sources. These should NOT be all web sources.
A Manual for Writers
of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, by Kate. L. Turabian,
Please consult. Failure to have a proper bibliography will reduce your grade.
Remember that plagiarism is a serious offense and it will be reported to the Honor's Code office as well as to the Dean's office. Check the policy on this issue at:
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/acadinteg.html
The overall grade distribution will
be as follows:
Grade 100% scale
A 93.4-100
A- 90.0-93.3
B+ 86.7-89.9
B 83.4-86.6
B- 80.0-83.3
C+ 76.7-79.9
C 73.4-76.6
C- 70.0-73.3
=
D+ 66.7-69.9
D 63.4-66.6
D- 60.0-63.3
F less than
60
3 . Attendance
and class participation both in class will count toward the final grade.
Attendance means being in class on time. Being late will count as absent. Not
having read the assignments for the day will count as an F for that component
of the course. We will be discussing different current issues, news articles,
current events etc...
The class participation will count for 15% of your grade, mostly on class discussion, material that
has been assigned per the syllabus. When called upon, you are expected to show
that you have read the material and will graded
accordingly. If your name is called and you are not in class or have not read
the material, the grade is an F. Asking questions does
not consitute class participation. You have to be
fully engaged and show that you are keeping up with the material and have read
it and comment/critique it. The same applies to the presentations of other
students. You are expected to have read in advance and be prepared to
ask/challenge/add/critique a presentation. The
resulting class participation grade is an average of the in class participation and your response(s) when
called upon to comment on the reading assignments for that day/week.
Attendance will count for 15%.
However, not being in class will automatically be reflected in a class participation. If you
attend LESS than 90% of the time, your attendance and participation will drop
by one letter grade. Missing two classes in a row,
will also result in the same drop in grade, unless the absence is documented.
4. The presentation will count for 10%. Prior to finishing your final paper, you will have to make a presentation and get feedback from the class. Based on the comments from the class and myself, you will be able to put the finishing touches on your paper. The presentation has be comprehensive. By that, I mean you are expected to present your thesis, your findings, predictions, what you learned from the project etc... I highly suggest that you bring in a detailed outline to be presented to the class, as well as encourage you to use transparencies if need be. We will work out a schedule during the first week of classes.
5. The exam which will count for 30%. The exam will
cover all the material presented from week 1 until and the material to be
covered will be given to you in class early enough. In order to do really well
in the exam, you need to keep up with the lectures, reading material and any
assignments given in class.
The Exam is on: December 17th from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Please be
on time. The exam will not be given once a student finishes and leaves the
room.
Please check to make sure and verify this exam date/time as well as others by
going to:
http://registrar.colorado.edu/calendar/exam_sched_fall07.html
Recap: Assignments and assessment:
One paper: 30%
Class participation: 15%
Attendance: 15%
Presentation: 10%
Exam: 30%
Religious holiday