2009 Fall ECON 134S-01
Bulletin Course Description Introduction to political history of Middle East from the advent of Islam to modern era. Examine institutions responsible for characteristics of political development in the region; consider selected cases relating to mechanisms of political development, including democratization; investigate religion¿s role in shaping the region¿s political trajectory; identify social forces, especially economic, driving contemporary rediscovery and reinterpretation of Islam¿s political organization and requirements, by both Islamists and secular political actors. Instructor: Kuran
(Instructor named in bulletin description above may not be current. For current instructor, see listing below.)
Title ISLAM AND THE STATE Department ECON Course Number 2009 Fall 134S Section Number 01 Primary Instructor Kuran,Timur Prerequisites
Synopsis of course content
This course offers an introduction to the political history of the Middle East from the advent of Islam fourteen centuries ago to the modern era. It has four main objectives. First of all, it will familiarize students with the institutions that have determined the pace and characteristics of political development in the region. Second, it will examine particular transformations and selected cases of inertia to derive lessons about the mechanisms that govern political development in general, including democratization. As such, it will provide insights applicable to other regions of the world, in both the past and present. Third, the course will investigate how religion shaped the region’s political trajectory; in particular, it will identify mechanisms through which Islam may have contributed to specific historical patterns, including militarily strong empires, campaigns to suppress or control religion, and, in the present, low government legitimacy. Fourth, the course will identify the social forces driving the contemporary rediscovery and reinterpretation of Islam for political ends, by both Islamists and secular political actors.
The course is organized around topics that present intellectual puzzles, including ones that have preoccupied scholars for generations. Within each topic the goal is to learn not just what happened but also, and more important, why the region’s political history unfolded as it did. In other words, the emphasis is on analysis rather than description. In pursuit of our analytical goal, we will draw comparisons with other parts of the world, especially western Europe, but also the Indian subcontinent, and East Asia. We will also cover draw on pertinent theoretical writings in economics and political science.
Textbooks
There is no main textbook for the course. Many books, chapters from books, and articles will be assigned for reading and discussion.
Readings will include:
Karl A. Wittfogel, Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957, chaps. 1-3.
S. E. Finer, The History of Government, vol. 2 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), chap. 2.
Jonathan P. Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), chaps. 3-11.
Linda T. Darling, Revenue-Raising and Legitimacy: Tax Collection and Finance Administration in the Ottoman Empire, 1560-1660 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), chaps. 1-2, 4, 6, 8-9.
Metin Coşgel and Thomas Miceli, “Risk, Transaction Costs, and Tax Assignment: Government Finance in the Ottoman Empire,” Journal of Economic History, 65 (2005): 806-21.
Suraiya Faroqhi, “Finances,” in An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914, edited by Halil İnalcık with Donald Quataert (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 531-44.
James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), chaps. 1-2.
Karen Barkey, Bandits and Bureaucrats: The Ottoman Route to Centralization (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994).
Timur Kuran, “The Provision of Public Goods under Islamic Law: Origins, Impact, and Limitations of the Waqf System,” Law and Society Review, 35 (2001): 841-97.
1986.
Timur Kuran, “The Absence of the Corporation in Islamic Law: Origins and Persistence,” American Journal of Comparative Law, 53 (2005): 785-834.
Knut S. Vikør, Between God and the Sultan: A History of Islamic Law (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), chaps. 1, 10-13, 16.
Richard C. Repp, “Qānūn and Sharīʻa in the Ottoman Context,” in Islamic Law: Social and Historical Contexts, ed. Aziz Al-Azmeh (London: Routledge, 1988), pp. 124-45.
Timur Kuran, “The Economic Ascent of the Middle East’s Religious Minorities: The Role of Islamic Legal Pluralism,” Journal of Legal Studies, 33 (2004): 475-515
Ariel Salzmann, Tocqueville in the Ottoman Empire: Rival Paths to the Modern State (Leiden: Brill, 2004).
Carter Findley, Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), chaps. __.
Sayyid Abul-Ala Mawdudi, Nations Rise and Decline—Why? (Lahore: Islamic Publications, 1976; orig. Urdu ed., 1947).
Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, Islamic Levithan: Islam and the Making of State Power (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), chaps. 1-4, 6.
Noah Feldman, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).
Muhammad Qasim Zaman. The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), chaps. 1-4.
United Nations Development Programme, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab Human Development Report 2002 (New York: United Nations, 2002), overview + chaps 2, 4, 5 required, rest recommended.
Reza Aslan, No God, but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (New York: Random House, 2005), chaps. 7, 9-10.
Assignments
The selected readings consist of journal articles, book chapters, books. __ books, which we shall cover in part or in full, are available at the Textbook Store:
Authors of the readings include not only political scientists and economists but also legal scholars, and historians. The readings have been selected partly to familiarize you with a variety of research techniques used to study the past: (1) archival data collection, (2) empirical testing, (3) textual criticism, and especially (4) institutional analysis.
Certain readings will address politically controversial and socially sensitive issues from multiple angles. Within the time constraints of the course, you will gain exposure to competing perspectives through influential writings of their leading exponents.
Exams
In-class midterm exam + final examination.
Term Papers
Term paper
Grade to be based on
The course grade will be based on a weighted average of the tests, paper, and class performance: (0.15 ) (midterm grade) + (0.25) (final grade) + (0.30) (paper grade) + (0.30) (class performance). The paper grade is broken down as follows: 0.02 (proposal) + 0.04 (organizational draft) + 0.24 (paper) = 0.30.
