How do states deal with routine cross-border smuggling during periods of protracted counterinsurgency? Firat Bozçali's new book, Smuggling Law: Unsettled Sovereignties in Turkey's Kurdish Borderlands, explores the complex interactions between the state and society in the Kurdish-dominated province of Wan which borders Iran. His careful border
That and more in the new wave of the Middle East Scholars Barometer I'm pleased to be able to share the results of the recently completed ninth wave of the Middle East Scholars Barometer. Shibley Telhami and I have been polling scholars of the Middle East once or
Apologies for a second mailing in one day, but this one has been eating at me for the last week and rather than try and publish it somewhere I decided to post it here. The German philosopher and social theorist Jürgen Habermas passed away over the weekend at the tender
I've been running a bit ragged lately, with a lot of travel to various talks and workshops and a number of pressing deadlines. I should have quite a bit of interesting stuff to share next week! For this week, just the podcast and a couple of videos from
We take a break from the grim headlines to spotlight another new episode of the Middle East Political Science Podcast Last year, I published a Cambridge Element called What is the Middle East: The Theory and Practice of Regions. It build upon a March 2022 Foreign Affairs article which argued
"Iran’s bombardment of its Gulf neighbors has inexorably dragged them into a war that they had desperately hoped to avoid. The potential entry of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia into direct war alongside Israel and the United States represents the first full-scale manifestation of America’
(For those who care. But what's a blog for if you can't share personal news?) First, as some of you may have seen, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation just announced their 2026 class of Distinguished Scholars. I am absolutely thrilled that they chose to support my
In a provocative new article in the Middle East Journal, Mohammed Hafez argues that all threads of the Islamist project have failed, a collective exhaustion as complete as the post-1967 death of the pan-Arabist project. Muslim Brotherhood style movements such as those in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia that contested elections,
The Trump administration has been steadily assembling a vast armada of airpower in the Gulf, ostensibly to apply pressure on Iran during negotiations. While the administration has been urging Iranian leaders to take a deal, American public demands on Iran on nuclear enrichment, ballistic missiles, and regional allies seem like
This week we feature new Arab public opinion surveys, a new issue of Middle East Report, and some of the latest research from the MENA Academy. I was traveling all last week, so the Middle East Political Science Podcast will be taking a break this week. The Arab Center recently
I'm on the road this week for the Ruination Tour. Please come out and see me, if you can, at one of these stops: Princeton University, today (Tuesday) at 4:30 at the Bobst Center; Wednesday, New York City - in conversation with Jillian Schwedler at Hunter College&
It is difficult to not worry about the stability and even survival of Jordan these days. Escalating Israeli aggression in the West Bank and political momentum towards annexation puts the Kingdom squarely in the crosshairs of potentially massive refugee flows, violence, and instability. The failure of Syria's post-Assad
This week marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, which for all the pain and suffering which followed still marks a momentous moment in Middle Eastern history and a model of social mobilization and protest organization that continues to inspire. For meaningful reflection on the extraordinary events of 2011,
I watched Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis murder a man on Saturday. The killing was captured by multiple videos from several angles, and all tell the same undisputable story. As with their smearing of Renee Good a few weeks ago, I watched Trump administration officials immediately label Alex Pretti a
The twists and turns in the rapidly evolving Middle Eastern order continue to unfold. Syria's SDF suddenly collapsed across much of its territory and signed a ceasefire with the Syrian government, potentially heralding an important advance in the consolidation of a centralized state – but one that is not
All signs point to an imminent American bombing attack on Iran, ostensibly in support of protestors challenging the regime. Such a military intervention in search of regime change has long been a fantasy for Iran hawks. We've been debating this all purpose policy demand for all seasons since
I'm delighted to announce the launch of the fifteenth (!) season of the Middle East Political Science Podcast! For over a decade, I've been hosting authors of new books and articles in the field to talk about their research – 290 episodes heading into the new season. Last
Relations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have over the last week erupted into an incredibly nasty and heated conflict eerily reminiscent of their joint 2017 campaign against Qatar. The most immediate cause was an ill-advised bid by the UAE-backed STC to take control of several key Yemeni provinces which
I've just returned from a whirlwind trip to Denmark and Norway, where I gave four book talks – a million thanks to the University of Copenhagen and DIIS, Aarhus University, NUPI and the University of Oslo – about America's Middle East: The Ruination of a Region. I also
I have a new piece out in Foreign Policy (gift link) arguing against the Trump administration's executive order designating branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. It was a strange piece to write, in some ways. I've been engaged in the academic and policy debate
I'm delighted to announce the publication of POMEPS Studies 57 Syria After Assad on the anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad one year ago. There have been a number of really good, thoughtful and critical pieces published in conjunction with the anniversary (from our political science community
I spent last weekend at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association in Washington DC – the first in-person meeting of MESA in several years, and a much needed one for an embattled academic community. MESA has been absolutely exceptional over the last several years in rising to the
Plus Syria, Title VI investigations, and a full roundup from the MENA Academy The war in Sudan is decidely not a nihilistic "war about nothing", argues Khaled Mustafa Medani in a tour de force article in the Fall 2025 issue of the APSA's section journal MENA
Crazy things happen in world politics all the time, yes, but there really aren't many scenes as surreal as Ahmed Sharaa – not so long ago a leading jihadist insurgent in Iraq and Syria and now Syria's president – triumphantly visiting the White House. But unlike a lot