Offered in a fully online format by Hebrew University’s Rothberg International School (RIS) in conjunction with the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, the M.A. in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies is an intensive, integrated program designed for students who wish to study the religion, politics, society, history, and culture of the Middle East.

Deepen your understanding of international affairs and contemporary diplomatic practise with a regional focus on the Middle East & North Africa. This programme will give you a theoretically and historically informed understanding of the practice of international diplomacy, broadly conceived, and its applications in the Middle East & North Africa.

Since the turn of the millennium religious ideas and identities have increasingly shaped national and international politics, especially in the Middle East. This online MA program – led by Prof. Jonathan Fox, one of the world’s foremost experts in the field – provides a unique platform for understanding the role of religion in contemporary politics. We explore the potential of religions to unite and divide societies, to exacerbate conflict, or provide frameworks for peace. Whether you are planning a career in academia, policy research, diplomacy, conflict resolution, or the clergy, or whether you simply have a passion to understand the social forces that shape our world, this program is for you. This two-year, online MA program will provide you with a deep academic grounding in religious and Middle Eastern politics as well as in general political science. The program is taught entirely in English by leading experts. There are approximately six hours of online teaching each week, and the program is open to students anywhere in the world. We consider both religious politics and Middle Eastern politics important topics of study within political science. This program uniquely combines these topics, which include a broad survey of Middle Eastern politics as well as religious politics both in the Middle East and outside of the Middle East. At the same time, we provide courses that cover basic political science theory and methodology. Thus, while this course of study has a unique focus, it will also provide a broad foundation in the general discipline of political science. Bar-Ilan University’s Political Science Department is uniquely situated to provide this course of study. Its faculty is part of a 40+ year tradition of expertise and excellence in religious and Middle Eastern politics and includes world-class researchers and instructors on these topics. The department is also home to premier research centers and projects, which focus on these issues. These include the Religion and State Project, the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, the Middle East’s premier national security think tank, and the Argov Center for the Study of Israel and the Jewish People. Read more about this degree in this article.

Why study three countries about which you know little and may not be able to find on a map? In less than a century, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), Hungary, and Poland, which began as provinces of multiethnic empires, experienced independence, Nazi occupation, communist dictatorship, and independence again, as members of NATO and the European Union.

The content of this course deals with issues of race and power In this class we will study the history and relationship of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. We will examine the origins of both movements and the history of their conflict. Significant attention be given to the conflict over Palestine which culminated in the Nakba and the establishment of Israel in 1948, as well as the decades of war, protest and occupation which followed.