Reflection #4

   This week, I felt the readings in two of my classes overlapped. In this class, it was the reading, Comparative Politics: The State in the Middle East and North Africa, and the reading, The Passion of World Politics, in my World Politics class. As Comparative Politics looks at the state in the MENA region and how it is the last frontier to see how new ideas of state could work, I felt that the argument from Passion of World Politics would be an interesting addition to what the MENA region could be. Passion of World Politics looks at emotions in world politics and how the emotional state of a country and its people can really effect how events turn out, and that emotions at an IR level haven't been studied thoroughly enough to use emotions to our advantage when making decisions about other countries. This can be applied to this still blank canvas of a state 'style' for the MENA region. As there is a strong sense of nationalism in this area, it would be interesting to apply the feelings and emotions of pride and dignity to how other countries interact with the MENA region and watch and see if that could actually change the relationship between state and society. Could this work? I think it's worth a shot.