UMaine News

The course will examine the nature, consequences and future direction of the politics in the Middle East, with primary focus on Iraq and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and their effects on other nations. It also requires students to attend part of the Camden Conference.

The Camden Conference, Feb. 25-27 and titled “The Middle East: Compromise or Conflagration?” will bring together a panel of distinguished authorities, former policy-makers and scholars to explore factors that may explain such questions as whether Iraq will be a model for the future or a quagmire in the making, in addition to social, political, economic and cultural implications for the region.

“This roster of speakers is always just first rate,” says Timothy Cole, an associate professor and chair of the UMaine Political Science Department. “Students get a first-hand, bird’s-eye view, so to speak, of the thinking that makes up American foreign policy.”

For students interested in pursuing political science or international affairs careers, Cole says, the course in conjunction with the Camden Conference, is a rare opportunity to talk in an informal setting about ideas and meet the people who are moving the world forward in foreign policy matters.

Experts, including former CIA Director James Woolsey, Rend Rahim Francke, Iraq’s U.S. representative, and U.S.M.C. Gen. (Retired) Anthony Zinni will discuss the implications and reality of reforms in Iran and whether Islamic fundamentalism is a clash of civilizations, a struggle within Islam itself, a rejection of modernity or just rejection of westernization?

The UMaine course, scheduled for three Saturdays — Feb. 19, March 19 and April 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. — is a compressed three-credit-hour course that is open not only to UMaine students, but to those who would like to enroll as non-degree students, according to Robert White, dean of the UMaine Division of Lifelong Learning, Continuing Education Division. The conference fee is included in the course tuition.

Students will get an in-depth historical perspective on the two conflicts and a discussion of the future. Additionally, the outlook, tone and assumptions of American foreign policy as they relate to these conflicts will be discussed, with particular emphasis on the underlying world view of the Bush administration and the “Bush Doctrine” approach to national security.

The course is considered one of the most unique and relevant courses offered anywhere, according to White, who also is a member of the Camden Conference advisory board. It also represents an opportunity for the university to extend its resources to the community, White and Cole say.

“The University of Maine is one of the first in the United States that has offered a course around a conference of this type,” he says.

People interested in the course are welcome to register, regardless of whether they are regular students enrolled in the university, or those interested in taking it on a non-degree basis according to White. “We’ll continue to register students until February 25.

UMaine faculty collaborating in teaching the course include Cole, Alexander Grab, history professor, Josef Hallatschek, professor of military science, and Paul Charbonneau, instructor of peace studies.

Other wide-ranging topics the Camden Conference will cover include: distinctions between states that formed themselves (Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia) and those created by outside powers, and now possibly disintegrating states; factors leading states toward a liberal democracy, Islamic republic or an autocratic regime; and globalization and the politics of oil-based economic development.

On Friday evening, Feb. 25, keynote speaker Zinni is scheduled to outline western world challenges in the Middle East. Saturday morning will feature three sessions with Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, Olivier Roy, senior researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, and Rend Rahim Francke, addressing history, lessons and prospects of political, economic, social and cultural development in the region.

Saturday afternoon sessions will be dedicated to the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace process, with Yossi Alpher, editor of the Bitterlemons.org newsletter, the featured speaker. Sunday morning, National Public Radio’s Deborah Amos is scheduled to provide a news reporter’s view on the situation in Iraq and neighboring states. Former U.S. Ambassador Richard Murphy and Woolsey also will discuss the implications for U.S. interests in the prospects for both the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the broader Middle East conflicts.

A concluding round table discussion involving all the speakers and the audience will provide an opportunity for a free-wheeling debate on how U.S. policy toward the Middle East should evolve over the next several years.

Further information about the UMaine Camden Conference course is available by calling Marlene Charron, assistant director, Conference Services Division, at (207) 581-4095 or Tim Cole at (207) 581-1882.

The schedule for the UMaine course is as follows:

Feb. 19: First class session. Overview, introductions, followed by first session on Israel-Palestine issues with Prof. Alex Grab as principal lecturer. Soderberg Center, Jenness Hall, UMaine Orono campus.

Feb. 25-27: Camden Conference, Camden Opera House. Students are required to attend a preliminary course session in the Picker Room, Camden Public Library, beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 25.

March 19: Second class session with a concentration on Iraq. Grab will be the principal lecturer. The Hutchinson Center, Belfast.