ECON 204W Economic History of the Middle East Spring 2000
Metin M. Co#gel 
Office : Monteith 345D     
Phone: 486 4662 
E­mail: Cosgel@uconn.edu 
Website: http://vm.uconn.edu/~COSGEL/index.html 
Office Hours : 10­11 Mondays and Wednesdays, and by appointment 
 
TEXTBOOKS:
.  Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples.
.  Roger Owen, The Middle East in the World Economy, 1800­1914.
.  Coursepack.
REQUIREMENTS:
1. Exams: three midterms (the lowest score will be dropped; no make­ups) and a final examination.
Midterm dates: Monday, February 21
Wednesday, March 15
Friday, April 14
Final Exam: Friday, May 12
2. Writing Assignments:
In some sections of the reading list, you will notice (a total of five) questions marked by an asterisk. These are
writing assignments of 3­4 pages in length. In answering each question, you are expected not only to master the
readings assigned for the section but also to find and use other relevant sources (as available in the library, internet,
etc.). Each paper is due by the day the corresponding topic is to be discussed in class.
Notes on writing assignments:
a. Note that because this is a "W" course, you will not pass the course if you do not pass the writing component
of the course.
b. The deadlines for the papers are serious. Late submissions will lose 25% of total points available for a paper
for each class meeting after the due date.
c. Each paper will be graded on:
i. Researching the topic (25%):
.  Were relevant and good quality reference materials researched and mastered?
(You can use the internet, Homer, or CD­ROM searches (e.g., EconLit, Index of Economics Articles, and
SSCI) in the library to locate relevant sources. Make sure to include at the end of your paper a complete
bibliography of the sources you have consulted. Make sure also to avoid plagiarism and to provide the
proper citation for all direct quotations, paraphrased ideas, and statistical and other information that come
from these sources.)
ii. Argument (25%):
.  Is there a central idea, a thesis that is consistently sustained throughout the paper?
iii. Organization and support (25%):
.  Is the paper well­organized?
.  Are the contents clearly and consistently relevant to the main topic?
.  Are examples, quotations, statistical and other information skillfully used to support the argument(s)?
iv. Mechanics and ``style'' (25%):
.  Are the paragraphs coherent, sentences well­constructed, words well­chosen?
.  Are the mechanical elements of writing (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.) free of errors?
3. The requirements will have the following weights:
Midterms 30
Final 20
Papers (10 % each) 50

4. The grading scale:
Grade %
A 95+
A­ 90+
B+ 85+
B 80+
B­ 78+
C+ 75+
C 70+
C­ 68+
D+ 65+
D 60+
D­ 55+
F 0­54
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST
PART I: The Middle East in World History
1. Introduction to the Middle East and Its History
.  Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., ``The Physical Setting,'' Chapter 1 in A Concise History of the Middle East, 1988,
3rd edition, pp. 7­13.
.  Hourani, maps on pp. 460­81.
.  Video: ``The ME Series, Part 1: ``The Middlemen''
2. A Concise Economic History of the Middle East
.  Charles Issawi, ``The Middle East in the World Economy,'' in The Middle Eastern Economy: Decline and
Recovery, pp. 33­55.
3. Issue #1: The Rise and Fall of the Middle East (What caused the underdevelopment of the Middle East?)
**Assignment #1: Did the Middle East experience an economic decline after the middle ages?
.  Owen, pp. 1­10.
.  John P. Powelson, ``The Middle East in History,'' Chapter 19 in Centuries of Economic Endeavor, 1994, pp.
279­93.
.  Video: ``Ancient and Modern: The Fall and Rise of The Middle East''
4. A Concise Economic History of the West
.  Hourani, pp. 263­4.
5. Issue #2: The Middle East and the West (How different is the Middle East from the West?)
.  Hourani, Chs. 15, 18.
.  Springborg, Patricia. "The Origins of Liberal Institutions in the Ancient Middle East," in Tim Niblock and
Emma Murphy, eds. Economic and Political Liberalization in the Middle East. London and New York:
British Academic Press, 1993.
.  Cemal Kafadar, subsection titled ``The `Ottoman Decline' in Comparative Perspective,'' in T.A. Brady,
H.A. Oberman, and J.D. Tracy, eds. Handbook of European History 1400­1600, 1994, pp. 613­25.
PART II: Social Institutions and Socio­Economic Change
1. Religion
.  General reading: Hourani, Chs. 1­4, 9, pp. 345­49, pp. 397­400, pp. 442­58.
.  Video: ``Holy Land: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the Middle East''
a. Islam and Economic Development

**Assignment #2: ``Is Islamic economics only a utopian dream that is impossible to establish in
reality?''
.  Choudry, Masudul Alam, 1983. ``Principles of Islamic Economics,'' Middle Eastern Studies 19(1): 93­103.
.  Kuran, Timur, 1995. ``Islamic Economics and the Islamic Subeconomy,'' Journal of Economic Perspectives
9(4): 155­73.
b. Religious Minorities
.  Hourani, pp. 117­19, 181­88, 434­36.
c. Kibbutz
.  Bowes, Alison M. , 1990. ``The Experiment that did not Fail: Image and Reality in the Israeli Kibbutz,''
International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 22: 85­104.
2. Social development
a. Family and Women
**Assignment #3: Did women in the Middle East during the medieval period have an inferior
status (relative to men in their own societies and to women in the West) with respect to customs
and laws regulating marriage, the ideal of seclusion, and the laws regulating property ownership?
.  Video: ``Family matters: The Role of the Family in the Middle East''
.  Hourani, pp. 119­22.
.  Ahmed, Leila, 1992. ``Medieval Islam,'' Ch. 6 in Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a
Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press.
b. Health and Education
.  Hourani, chs. 10­12, pp. 324­28, ch. 23.
.  ``Human Capital: Health and Education,'' Ch. 5 in Alan Richards and John Waterbury, A Political Economy
of the Middle East, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990.
c. Law
.  Hourani, pp. 113­16.
.  ``Law: Sultanic Law (K####) and Religious Law (#er#at),'' Ch. 10 in Halil #nalc#k, The Ottoman Empire: 
The Classical Age, 1300­1600, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973. 
3.   Land Administration  
General Reading: Hourani, Ch. 6 
a. History of Land Tenure 
.  Owen, pp. 10­21. 
b. Timar System and Other Issues in Land Administration 
.  ``The Provincial Administration and the Timar System,'' Ch. 13 in Halil #nalc#k, The Ottoman Empire: The 
Classical Age, 1300­1600, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973. 
4.   State  
General Reading: Hourani, Chs. 8, 13­14, pp. 381­84. 
a. Ottoman State and Army  
b. Economic Policy  
 
**Assignment #4: What were the distinctive features of the Ottoman or Islamic notions of the role 
of the state in the economy?  Did these distinctive features cause the difference between stagnant 
Middle Eastern industries and commerce and the dynamic European market economy? 
 
.   ``The Economic Mind,''#Part A (pp. 44­54) in Halil #nalc#k and Donald Quataert, eds. An Economic and 
Social History of the Ottoman Empire, Vol I, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 
 
5.   Reforms and Westernization  
.  Hourani, chs. 16­18. 
.  Owen, ch.2. 
 

Part III: Economic Development
1. Agricultural Production and Technology
.  Owen, pp. 24­44,
2. Manufacturing
a. Crafts Production
.  Hourani, ch. 7.
.  Owen, pp. 21­23, 45­50,
b. Industrialization
**Assignment #5: Did Ottoman manufacturing steadily deteriorate as a result of increased
efficiency of European industries after the Industrial Revolution?
.  ``Manufacturing,'' Ch 34 in Halil #nalc#k and Donald Quataert, eds. An Economic and Social History of the
Ottoman Empire, Vol II, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
3. Trade
a. International Trade
.  Owen, pp. 50­56, ch. 3.
b. Capitulations
c. Transportation and Communication
d. Petroleum
.  Hourani, ch. 25.
4. Foreign Capital
.  Owen, Chs. 4, 8