Admission requirements
Mandatory course for students enrolled in the bachelor’s programme Security Studies.
Only students enrolled into the bachelor’s programme Security Studies can follow this course. This course is also open for inbound exchange students. Exchange students must be admitted by the FGGA International Office prior to the start of the course.
Description
Contemporary conflicts in the Middle East, many of which emerged from the fallout of the Arab Spring, have raised a complex set of security problems both in the region and more widely for over a decade. These irregular conflicts emerge from and give rise to a wide variety of intentional (security) threats, and have significant security implications at a national, regional and international level.
Contemporary conflicts in the Middle East, many of which emerged from the fallout of the Arab Spring, have for over a decade raised a complex set of security problems both in the region and more widely. These irregular conflicts include many examples of intentional (security) threats, and have significant security implications at a national, regional and international level.
This course will provide an introduction into the study of contemporary conflict in the Middle East, exploring conflict dynamics and security implications. Students will examine and discuss how conflicts can develop into internationalised civil wars, generating security debates around terrorism, migration, gender, digital technologies, war crimes and international law, among others. They will do so by focusing on the Syrian civil war as a case study. Students will examine the trajectory of this contemporary conflict in the Middle East in relation to other political developments in the region post-Arab Spring.
Students will explore the Syrian civil war by applying knowledge and methods from relevant disciplines. By following the logic of interdisciplinary thinking, students will learn how to understand and explain important facets of contemporary conflicts in the Middle East in terms of causes, factors driving and sustaining the conflict, as well as the effects and implications for governments, citizens, and other actors. Students will learn to review an event, or set of events, through the lenses of various academic disciplines and gain the ability to apply this skill in other cases.
Course objectives
After this course students will be able to:
Acquire knowledge and comprehension of several basic concepts and/or methods across multiple disciplines, such as: History, International Relations, Law, Economics, Sociology, and Psychology.
Acquire knowledge and all-round understanding of irregular conflict and the security threats affecting vital interests in modern societies (security).
Select, weigh and integrate concepts and methods from relevant disciplines in order to gain a deeper understanding of a real-life security case.
Carry out an interdisciplinary assessment of a security case and present findings in an academic paper.
Show awareness of social and cultural differences and ethical dilemmas in this case study.
Timetable
On the right side of the programme front page you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
14 lectures and self-study
Total study load of 280 hours
Contact hours: 42
Self-study hours (including assignment): 235
Examination: 3
Assessment method
Academic Paper:
40% of final grade
Grade must be 5.50 or higher
Resit of a fail is possible.
Resit will take the same form
Written Exam
60% of final grade
Grade must be 5.50 or higher
Resit of a fail is possible
Resit will take the same form
Transitional Arrangement
Passed partial grades obtained in year 2023-2024 remain valid during year 2024-2025.
In the case of written assessment methods, the examiner can always initiate a follow-up conversation with the student to establish whether the learning objectives have been met.
Reading list
A selection of books and articles will be announced on Brightspace.
Registration
Students who follow this course do not need to register for this course themselves. This will be done by the study coordinator.
Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in uSis you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.
Access to Brightspace is necessary because the syllabus and other information about this course can be found here. Furthermore, announcements and modifications will be communicated via Brightspace. Students have the responsibility to stay informed and are thus advised to regularly check Brightspace for updates.
More information on registration via MyStudymap can be found on this page.
Please note: guest-/contract-/exchange students do not register via MyStudymap but via uSis.
Contact
Prof.dr. E. Bakker e.bakker@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
For exceptions, please contact the Board of Examiners.