This course adopts a historical-thematic approach for examining the factors and processes that shaped Israel’s security and foreign relations in the Middle East and the international arena since the pre-state Mandate period. More specifically, the course offers three complementary outlooks: First, an outside-in perspective which examines the varied impacts of the regional and international arenas on Israel’s national security, economy and identity; Second, an inside-out perspective which examines Israel’s domestic politics, ideological conflicts and decision making processes; Third, an integrative perspective demonstrated by multi-level analyses of major events of war and peace. These perspectives are particularly concerned with variations in Arab-Israeli relations, such as the long-term implications of armed conflicts on the parties concerned, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of regional and international diplomacy and peacemaking efforts. The course aims to identity processes of change and distinguish them from relatively stable considerations and approaches of both perspectives. Hence, the course addresses continuity and change in the Arab-Muslim perceptions of ‘self’ and ‘other’ on collective identity and security, relations between the Jewish state and the Diaspora and the role of violence and diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Instructor: Visiting Professor Ehud Eiran