Introduction to Middle East Politics
POLS 3328
Tweets and texts earlier this year caused political science Assistant Professor Brent Sasley to change the course syllabus. Introduction to Middle East Politics now includes 2011鈥檚 political uprisings and revolutions known as the Arab Spring. 鈥淧eople who study the region closely said something would happen. The regimes, the governments, couldn鈥檛 hold on,鈥� Dr. Sasley says. 鈥淲hen the economy was OK, the people could tolerate it. But a large number of young people are without jobs. These young people are better informed, they knew their rights, and they knew how to organize.鈥� Sasley calls the events part of a communications revolution. Social networking has been cited for the instantaneous information during the uprisings. 鈥淧eople were not secretly plotting. Mostly, it was spontaneous, a groundswell bubbling up.鈥� Cultural differences and misconceptions make it hard for many Americans to understand how Middle East politics differs from politics in the West. 鈥淲e have this idea that if we just keep talking, we can solve the problem,鈥� Sasley says. 鈥淭hat just doesn鈥檛 happen in the Middle East.鈥�