NELC282 - Who Belongs? Minorities and Nation-Building in the Middle East

This seminar offers an introduction to Muslim political thought. Chrnologically the course ranges from the medieval period to the present. Particular attention will be given in the later part of the coruse to the renaissance of Muslim potical thought in recent years and to the development of politicial Islam, including the work of such thinkers as Said Qutb and Hasan Turabi. We will also study the roots of this renaissance in classical philosophy of the medieval period (Al Farabi, Al Ghazali, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Tufayl) and the liberal age.