Pomeps Conversations

Nicholas Danforth of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy  discusses his latest book, The Remaking of Republican Turkey: Memory and Modernity since the Fall of the Ottoman Empire, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book demonstrates how transformations such as the birth of a multi-party democracy and NATO membership helped consolidate a consensus on the nature of Turkish modernity that continues to shape current political and cultural debates. (Starts at 0:47). Lucy Abbott of the University of Edinburgh and Vincent Keating of the University of Southern Denmark discuss their latest article, "Entrusted norms: security, trust, and betrayal in the Gulf Cooperation Council crisis," published in the European Journal of International Affairs. (Starts at 33:16). Kristian Ulrichsen of Rice University talks about the GCC reconciliation. (Starts at 49:00).  Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade (playing Ney) and Farah Kaddour (on Buzuq). You can find more of Bashi

Raphael Lefevre of University of Oxford discusses his latest book, Jihad in the City: Militant Islam and Contentious Politics in Tripoli, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book shows how militant Islamist groups are impacted by their grand ideology as much as by local contexts – with crucial lessons for understanding social movements, rebel groups and terrorist organizations elsewhere too. (Starts at 0:34). Sarah Parkinson of Johns Hopkins University speaks about her new article entitled, "(Dis)courtesy Bias: “Methodological Cognates,” Data Validity, and Ethics in Violence-Adjacent Research," published in Comparative Political Studies. (Starts at 29:07). Mohamed Daadaoui of Oklahoma City University talks about Morocco's election and the PJD. (Starts at 46:38). Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade (playing Ney) and Farah Kaddour (on Buzuq). You can find more of Bashir's work on his YouTube Channel. You can listen to this week’s podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music

Benjamin Smith of University of Florida & David Waldner of University of Virginia discuss their latest book, Rethinking the Resource Curse: Elements in the Politics of Development, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book includes results of the authors' own research, showing that a set of historically contingent events in the Middle East and North Africa are at the root of what has been mistaken for a global political resource curse. (Starts at 0:36). Kevan Harris of UCLA & Rasmus Elling of University of Copenhagen speak about their new article entitled, "Difference in difference: language, geography, and ethno-racial identity in contemporary Iran," published in Ethnic and Racial Studies. (Starts at 38:54). Marsin Alshamary of the Brookings Institution talks about the upcoming Iraqi election. (Starts at 58:31). Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade (playing Ney) and Farah Kaddour (on Buzuq). You can find more of Bashir's work on his YouTube Channel.

Raffaella Del Sarto of Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe talks about her latest book, Borderlands: Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book proposes a profound rethink of the complex relationship between Europe-defined here as the European Union and its members-and the states of the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe's 'southern neighbours'. (Starts at 0:49). Lucia Ardovini of Swedish Institute of International Affairs speaks about her latest article, "Re-Thinking the Tanzim: Tensions between Individual Identities and Organizational Structures in the Muslim Brotherhood after 2013," published in the Middle East Law and Governance Journal. (Starts at 29:01). Toby Dodge of The London School of Economics discusses the upcoming Iraqi elections.  (Starts at 44:36). Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade (playing Ney) and Farah Kaddour (on Buzuq). You can find more of Bashir's work on his YouTube Channel.

Zaid al-Ali of Princeton University talks about his latest book, Arab Constitutionalism: The Coming Revolution, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. He deconstructs the popular demands that were made in 2011 and translates them into a series of specific actions that would have led to freer societies and a better functioning state. (Starts at 0:43). Marsin Alshamary of the Brookings Institution speaks about her new article entitled, "Religious Peacebuilding in Iraq: Prospects and Challenges from the Hawza," published in the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. (Starts at 30:11). James Shires, of Leiden University, talks about his work on digital authoritarianism. (Starts at 42:43). Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade (playing Ney) and Farah Kaddour (on Buzuq). You can find more of Bashir's work on his YouTube Channel.

Kevin Mazur, a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University, talks about his latest book, Revolution in Syria: Identity, Networks, and Repression, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book shows that the challenge to the Syrian regime did not erupt neatly along ethnic boundaries, and that lines of access to state-controlled resources played a critical structuring role; the ethnicization of conflict resulted from failed incumbent efforts to shore up network ties and the violence that the Asad regime used to crush dissent by challengers excluded from those networks. (Starts at 0:48). Faten Ghosn of the University of Arizona joins the podcast to discuss her article, "The Journey Home: Violence, Anchoring, and Refugee Decisions to Return" (co-authored by Tiffany Chu, Miranda Simon, Alex Braithwaite, Michael Frith, and Joanna Jandali), published by Cambridge University Press. (Starts at 30:32). Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis group discusses Lebanon's banking crisis. (Starts at 45:43).  Musi

Mona El Ghobashy of New York University talks about her latest book, Bread and Freedom: Egypt's Revolutionary Situation, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book is a multivocal account of why Egypt's defeated revolution remains a watershed in the country's political history. (Starts at 1:28). Killian Clarke of Georgetown University speaks about his new article entitled, "Which protests count? Coverage bias in Middle East event datasets," published by Mediterranean Politics. (Starts at 31:48). Laryssa Chomiak, the Director of Centre d'Etudes Maghrébines à Tunis, to talk about recent political developments in Tunisia. (Starts at 47:05). Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade playing Ney, along with Farah Kaddour on Buzuq. You can find more of Bashir's work on his YouTube Channel.

POMEPS 12th Annual Conference Part 2 (S. 10, Ep. 24) by Marc Lynch

This special episode features a round-table discussion from the POMEPS 12th Annual Conference, which was held on June 9-10, 2021. The panel, "Confronting Old and New Obstacles to Political Science Research," features five scholars: Nermin Allam, Assistant Professor of Politics at Rutgers University Mert Arslanalp, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bogazici University Laryssa Chomiak, Director of the Centre d'Etudes Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) Jannis Julien Grimm, Freie Universität Berlin, Member of the Executive Board and Associated Researcher at the Institute for Protest and Social Movement Studies in Berlin (ipb) Sarah Parkinson, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Johns Hopkins University Music for this season’s podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Maha Nassar of the University of Arizona talks about her book, Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book is the first book to reveal how Palestinian intellectuals forged transnational connections through written texts and engaged with contemporaneous decolonization movements throughout the Arab world, challenging both Israeli policies and their own cultural isolation. Nassar reexamines these intellectuals as the subjects, not objects, of their own history and brings to life their perspectives on a fraught political environment. (Starts at 0:40). Also, Ian Lustick of the University of Pennsylvania talks about his book, Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality, with Marc Lynch. The book argues that negotiations for a two-state solution between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River are doomed and counterproductive. Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs can enjoy the democracy they deserve but only after decades of st

Omar Ashour of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies talks about his latest book, How ISIS Fights: Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book analyses the military and tactical innovations of ISIS and their predecessors in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. Ashour shows how their capacity to mix conventional military tactics with innovative guerrilla warfare and urban terrorism strategies allowed ISIS to expand and endure beyond expectations. (Starts at 30:52). Max Gallien of the University of Sussex talks about his article, "Informal Institutions and the Regulation of Smuggling in North Africa." (Starts at 0:45). Aytuğ Şaşmaz of the Harvard Kennedy School Middle East Initiative talks about his article, "Navigating welfare regimes in divided societies: Diversity and the quality of service delivery in Lebanon" (co-authored by Melani Cammett). (Starts at 16:22).

This is a special edition of the POMEPS Middle East Political Science Podcast. Our program typically hosts conversations with scholars about recent books and academic publications. But the ongoing war in Gaza and the broader political crisis among Israelis and Palestinians impacts so many members of our scholarly field and the people and communities we study that we felt both an intellectual and a moral obligation to put together something different: a special edition of the podcast featuring short research based conversations with a wide range of scholars from within the POMEPS network. Marc Lynch The podcast includes contributions from the following scholars. For more from these scholars, see below: Yousef Munayyer, University of Maryland and Arab Center Washington – “There Will Be a One-State Solution But What Kind of State Will It Be?” Dana el-Kurd, University of Richmond – Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine Nadav Shelef, University of Wisconsin –Evolving Nationalism

Nicola Pratt of the University of Warwick talks about her latest book, Embodying Geopolitics: Generations of Women’s Activism in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book demonstrates how the production and regulation of gender are integrally bound up with the exercise and organization of geopolitical power, with consequences for women’s activism and its effects. (Starts at 25:11). André Bank of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and Jan Busse Bundeswehr University Munich talk about their special issue, "MENA political science research a decade after the Arab uprisings: Facing the facts on tremulous grounds," published in Mediterranean Politics. (Starts at 0:44). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Paola Rivetti of Dublin City University talks about her latest book Political Participation in Iran from Khatami to the Green Movement, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book examines the unintended consequences of top-down reforms in Iran, analyzing how the Iranian reformist governments (1997–2005) sought to utilize gradual reforms to control independent activism, and how citizens responded to such disciplinary action. (Starts at 31:48). Alexandra Siegel of the University of Colorado, Boulder talks about her article, “Tweeting Beyond Tahrir: Ideological Diversity and Political Intolerance in Egyptian Twitter Networks,” co-authored with Jonathan Nagler, Richard Bonneau, and Joshua A. Tucker, and published in World Politics. (Starts at 0:52). Konstantin Ash of the University of Central Florida talks about his latest article, “How did Tunisians react to Ennahdha’s 2016 reforms? Evidence from a survey experiment,” published in Mediterranean Politics. (Starts at 17:35). Music for this season's podcast

Ewan Stein of University of Edinburgh talks about his latest book, International Relations in the Middle East: Hegemonic Strategies and Regional Order, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book demonstrates how the sources of regional antagonisms and solidarities are to be found not in the geopolitical chessboard, but in the hegemonic strategies of the region's pivotal powers.  (Starts at 35:11). Steven Schaaf of George Washington University speaks about his new article entitled, "Contentious Politics in the Courthouse: Law as a Tool for Resisting Authoritarian States in the Middle East," published by Law and Society Review. (Starts at 0:53). Zahra Ali of Rutgers University discusses her new article, "From Recognition to Redistribution? Protest Movements in Iraq in the Age of ‘New Civil Society," published in Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. (Starts at 19:23). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Jesse Wozniak of West Virginia University talks about his latest book, Policing Iraq: Legitimacy, Democracy, and Empire in a Developing State, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast.  The book demonstrates how police are integral to the modern state’s ability to effectively rule and how the failure to recognize this directly contributed to the destabilization of Iraq and the rise of the Islamic State. (Starts at 32:51). Alexei Abrahams of Harvard University speaks about his new article entitled, "Hard traveling: unemployment and road infrastructure in the shadow of political conflict," published by Cambridge University Press. (Starts at 0:53). Adam Lichtenheld of Yale University discusses his new article, "The consequences of internal displacement on civil war violence: Evidence from Syria," (co-authored with Justin Schon of University of Virginia) published in Political Geography. (Starts at 18:24). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook an

John Waterbury of Princeton University talks about his latest book, Missions Impossible: Higher Education and Policymaking in the Arab World, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book seeks to explain the process of policymaking in higher education in the Arab world, a process that is shaped by the region’s politics of autocratic rule. (Starts at 33:42). Irene Weipert-Fenner of the Peace Research Institute of Frankfurt talks about her article, "Go local, go global: Studying popular protests in the MENA post-2011," published in Mediterranean Politics. (Starts at 0:59). Mariam Salehi of Berlin Social Science Center discusses her new article, "Trying Just Enough or Promising Too Much? The Problem-Capacity-Nexus in Tunisia’s Transitional Justice Process," published in the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. (Starts at 20:24). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Stephanie Dornschneider of University College Dublin talks about her latest book, Hot Contention, Cool Abstention: Positive Emotions and Protest Behavior During the Arab Spring, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast.  The book traces how decisions about participating in the Arab Spring were made, using psychology literature on reasoning and political science literature on protest. (Starts at 29:47). Matthew Lacouture of Wayne State University speaks about his new article entitled, "Privatizing the Commons: Protest and the Moral Economy of National Resources in Jordan," published by Cambridge University Press. (Starts at 0:54). Maria Josua of the German Institute of Global Affairs and Mirjam Edel of University of Tubingen discuss their new article, "The Arab uprisings and the return of repression," published in Mediterranean Politics. (Starts at 15:11). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Emy Matesan of Wesleyan University talks about her latest book, The Violence Pendulum: Tactical Change in Islamist Groups in Egypt and Indonesia, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. In the book, she argues that Islamist groups alter their tactics in response to the perceived need for activism, shifts in the cost of violent versus nonviolent resistance, and internal or external pressures on the organization. (Starts at 31:05). Giulia Cimini of University of Bologna speaks about her new article entitled, "Learning mechanisms within an Islamist party: Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement between domestic and regional balances," published in Contemporary Politics. (Starts at 0:50). Jana Belschner of University of Bergen discusses her new article, "Electoral Engineering in New Democracies: Strong Quotas and Weak Parties in Tunisia," published in Government and Opposition, an International Journal of Comparative Politics. (Starts at 15:11). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more o

Somdeep Sen of Roskilde University talks about his latest book, Decolonizing Palestine: Hamas between the Anticolonial and the Postcolonial, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book considers the case of the Palestinian struggle for liberation from its settler colonial condition as a complex psychological and empirical mix of the colonial and the postcolonial. (Starts at 27:13). Lisel Hintz of Johns Hopkins University discusses her new article, "The empire’s opposition strikes back: popular culture as creative resistance tool under Turkey’s AKP," published in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. (Starts at 0:54). Also, Michaelle Browers joins the podcast to discuss her article "Beginnings, Continuities and Revivals: An Inventory of the New Arab Left and an Ongoing Arab Left Tradition," published in Middle East Critique. (Starts at 14:50). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page. You can listen to this w