Summer School at the LSE

Kirill Zhirkow described his participation in the Summer Program at the London School of Economics

Kirill Zhirkov (LCSR research fellow) took part in the LSE Summer School. In the note for the LCSR website he shared his impressions about the course on “The Middle East in Global Politics” that he visited during the school and of London as well.

This year, thanks to the LCSR program of financial support for the researchers’ who are willing to participate in various international summer schools and conferences, I took part in the study program at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) at July 8 to 26. This is one of the oldest and the most prestigious summer programs in social sciences that offers a wide range of courses from business administration to quantitative methodology. Classes took place in the LSE main campus in the center of London, the capital of the UK.

During the school I attended the course “The Middle East in Global Politics” since its topic is close to the research project I currently work on at the LCSR. The primary topics of the classes were related to internal and international politics of the Middle Eastern states as well as to the key political and social processes in the region. The course was structured according to a classical scheme: It began from the political history of the Middle East and then focused on detailed analysis of the policies of particular states such as Egypt, Iran, Israel, and Turkey. Special attention was paid to the most influential political ideologies in the region, namely Arab nationalism and political Islam. The last classes were devoted to the phenomenon of the Arab Spring and possible trajectories of regional political development. The leading lecturer of the course was LSE Professor Katerina Dalacoura, a well-known scholar of the Middle Eastern politics. Other staff included professors from other London universities and young teaching assistants, both last year LSE PhD students and recent graduates.

The program was characterized by a diverse student body, but the biggest share—a bit less than a half—was represented by the students of American colleges, including the most prestigious ones such as Yale and Princeton. Overrepresentation of undergraduate students influenced the character of seminars making the debates less intense compared to the graduate-level programs. However, it did not prevent me from participation in a very interesting discussion with the lecturer, Hadi Makarem, about the problem of making distinction between radical and moderate Islamist movements.

In general, attending the classes was very useful for me since I've never taken a comprehensive course in Middle Eastern politics before. It is enough to say that after the end of the course I needed only five days to rewrite a final report for LCSR August conference and to prepare a full-sized draft of an article.

Of course, I cannot help but mention the diverse ways to spend free time which London has to offer. So, I managed to see the most popular tourist attractions, such the Tower of London, and also became familiar with British drama at the National Theatre and the famous Globe. However, this is just a small part of entertainments which are available in London.

Kirill Zhirkov