Students get in touch with the basic legal, social, political and religious principles of the countries, statesandsocietiesofthebroaderMiddleEasternregionandtheIslamicworld. They learn the history of the great Muslim empires of the past as a prerequisite for the understanding of current developments. Films, musical material and videos are used to bring the students closer to the matter in hand. Students also learn about the creation of the state of Israel and all the relevant issues related to the Palestinian problem. They learn the basic tenets of Islamic fundamentalism and jihadi extremism. They get accustomed with the hate speech and the hate ideologies related to the history of the area (anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, persecutions of the Christian population, anti-Shii hatred).

Students come close to the basic tenets of the social, political, religious and financial reality of the states, countries and societies of the Middle East.Using an array of tools (films, videos, in – class debates) they learn to analyze the most important current trends relating to the region’s developments (the Israeli – Palestinians squabble, Islamic fundamentalism – extremism, the Irani nuclear quagmire, the civil war in Syria, Turkey’s new external policy). By the end of the semester, students should have obtained a sound knowledge of the religious, ideological, political and social situation in the broader Middle eastern area. More specifically, students learn to:
• Decipher the basic and most fundamental tenets and rules of Islam.
• Find their way around the way these countries were construed, by learning their history, their religion and their civilization (the great Muslim empires, the Ottoman empire, colonization and decolonization wars, construction of the new states, the Israeli – Arab wars, the oil boom and the oil economies of the Gulf states, the new ideologies: Panarabism, Islamic fundamentalism, Irani religious assertiveness, AKP’s neo – Ottomanism etc)
• Debate in the class in relation to these issues
• Understand all current issues having to do with Middle East

1^st week:

ISLAM – first steps in history, basic theological and legal principles I

2^nd week:

ΙSLAM – first steps in history, basic theological and legal principles I

3d week:

Historical development of the Muslim empires – Al Andalus – the Mughal empire – Ottoman empire

4^th week:

Sunnis and Shiis – the great religious, philosophical and legal rifts

5^th week:

Israel, the Jews and antisemitism

6^th week:

The Palestinian issue today – the current challenges for the region

7^th week:

Islamic fundamentalism and extremismΙ

8^th week:

Islamic fundamentalism and extremismΙΙ

9^th week:

Turkey – a brief presentation of its historical development

10^th week:

Islamophobia

11th week:

Islam in the West – systems of incoroporation

12th week:

Debating about specific issues: the headscarf “problem”

13^th week:

Debating about specific issues: debating history and the Greek – Turkish relations

• Kouloumbis, Th. (1990), International relations: Power and justice, Prentice Hall.

Written or/and oral examination, project