Teaching International Relations in the Arab World: Knowledge Production and Theoretical Challenges

Authors

  • Authors

  • Bassel Salloukh University of Birmingham, United
  • May Darwich University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31430/CIRL1108

Keywords:

IR Theory, Teaching IR, Knowledge Production, Arab World

Abstract

How is International Relations (IR) taught in the Arab World? What happens to what was once labelled an 'American Social Science' when it enters classrooms in the Arab world and is taught in Arabic? Despite the predominance of Western approaches and theories on the teaching of IR in the Arab World, there is tension between the need to train students in the classical theories as a prerequisite for knowledge production, and the need to adapt them to various political, social, and economic contexts across the globe. This study examines the different approaches to how IR is taught in Arab universities, and how Western theories are considered critically by the teaching of alternative approaches. The paper argues that the different approaches to teaching IR are more versatile theoretically than the range of published papers in leading academic journals in the West. As such, they may prove to be the starting point for new forms of knowledge production that better reflect the realities of international relations in the Arab world.

Author Biographies

  • Bassel Salloukh, University of Birmingham, United
    Associate Dean and Professor of Political Science and Head of the Politics and International Relations Program, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar.
  • May Darwich, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
    Associate Professor in International Relations of the Middle East, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

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Citing articles in ACRPS journals (2)

  1. (2024) العنف الإبستيمي للنظريات الوضعية في العلاقات الدولية: التحرر من القصة الواحدة. Siyasat Arabiya https://doi.org/10.31430/SQWQ4637
  2. (2022) الانتقائيُّ التحليليُّ والنظريات الكبرى: زهَّار أم نحلة؟ "مِن كل بستانٍ زهرةٌ" أم "شرابٌ مختلفٌ ألوانُه فيه شفاءٌ للناس"؟. Siyasat Arabiya https://doi.org/10.31430//PXKM3744

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Published

2023-03-01

Article dates

Received: November 13, 2021 Revised: March 29, 2022 Accepted: May 7, 2022

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Issue

Vol. 11 No. 061 (2023): Issue 061

Section

Studies

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