Development and International Cooperation Studies

The course aims to analyze the geopolitical, economic, social, and cultural dynamics of the North Africa and Middle East countries, exploring in detail some contemporary case studies, and providing students with guidelines towards an understanding of the complex security crisis currently affecting the region. However, for an understanding of present events, it is essential to start from a historical perspective that accurately situates contemporary events. After reviewing the colonization process, the course will focus on the process of decolonization, the state-building and nation-building processes of post-colonial modern Arab state. Subsequently, the course will address the progressive fragmentation of the regional system after the peace signed between Egypt and Israel (1979) and the development of new regional conflicts (Lebanon, Iran, Iraq); the (failed) attempt to construct a "new Middle East" after the end of the Cold War; the failure of political-economic liberalizations which led to the so-called Arab Springs; the ongoing security crisis within the Wider Mediterranean and its political and energy centrality in the current multipolar system.