Pleased that my paper “Paper Pusher or President’s Guard: Contentious Action in Syria’s Revolution” has been conditionally accepted at the Journal of Peace Research. The latest version is online here: osf.io/preprints/os...

Three 2-year full-time postdoctoral positions in autocratic politics at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University (in connection to projects headed by Jakob Tolstrup and Alexander Baturo). Flexible start date. Application deadline: June 1, 2026. international.au.dk/about/profil...

Three 2-year Postdoctoral positions at Aarhus University: Projects on personality cults and strategic communication in autocracies - Vacancy at Aarhus University

Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University

international.au.dk

Again, these are two sides of the same coin. These experts would have strenuously opposed bumbling into a global conflict with no endgame. This administration did not want to listen to them in the first place; they wouldn’t be calling on them now.

Mike Levin@mikelevin.org · 5mo ago

6 months before bombing Iran and closing the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump admin fired the State Dept. oil and gas experts. The people who modeled exactly this scenario. The ones with contacts at Gulf energy ministries. Now nobody knows who to call. You can't make this up.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

#APSALabor's annual virtual workshop is next Friday, and this year's organizers have done an incredible job. Please circulate and DM for the Zoom link if you'd like to join! We're on from 7 am to 5:40 pm EDT, with a great set of presenters from across oceans and timezones.

My article for @brookings.edu with @hamzehhadad.bsky.social on the value of Iraqi stability for the region, and the cost of allowing it to descend into the regional war: www.brookings.edu/articles/ira...

Iraq must not be a staging ground for war with Iran | Brookings

Iraq has long balanced between Washington and Tehran, but the coming weeks will test Iraq’s resolve and capability like never before.

brookings.edu

The Washington Post laying off their Middle East team weeks ago is of course a feature, not a bug, of this moment: Broad devaluation of fact based analysis and even the pretense of scrutiny of U.S. policies beyond the superficial press releases of our ossified alliances

NERV IRB Coordinator@professormusgrave.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I have to say the Post chose a hell of a moment to lay off all their foreign correspondents

An immigration court dropped its case against Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, a little less than a year after federal agents arrested her on a street near Tufts University

Immigration Court Drops Case Against Tufts Student Rumeysa Ozturk

The Turkish national had been arrested by plainclothes federal officers outside her apartment.

on.wsj.com

October 2025 Arab Barometer Palestinian opinion survey finds “widespread frustration with existing leadership. Fatah’s support has eroded sharply, Hamas has largely maintained its base, and political alienation has become the dominant stance.” www.arabbarometer.org/media-news/p...

February 1 deadline for @apsamena.bsky.social award nominations. Advisers/committee members/mentors, please nominate students with strong dissertations. Self-nominations welcome in all other categories. apsamena.org/awards/apsa-...

APSA MENA Politics Section@apsamena.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Just a few days to get APSA MENA awards nominations in by February 1. Self-nominations welcome for Best Book, Best Article, Best APSA Paper. Students, ask advisers to nominate you for Best Dissertation. Advisers, nominate your students. Let's celebrate your work! apsamena.org/awards/apsa-...

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

Kind of surreal to be discussing my new book on my favorite podcast for learning about new books. Marc as always knows so much about the topic; it's a real privilege (if intimidating) to be in conversation with him.

POMEPS@pomeps.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Welcome to Season 15 of the POMEPS Podcast! On this week's episode, Rana Khoury joins POMEPS Director Marc Lynch to discuss her new book, Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria's War. Also, Marc shares additional academic research on Syria. pomeps.org/civilizing-c...

Our just-published investigation into Assad's surveillance state which revealed how the former regime urged friends, spouses, and neighbors to inform on each other, leaving a legacy of broken trust that will take years to unravel. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Families, Neighbors Informed on Each Other in Assad’s Syria, With Deadly Consequences

Intelligence files found in a Damascus prison complex reveal cases that led to brutal detentions; a wife records a husband.

wsj.com

🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]

Call for Applications: Early-career scholars in the Arab #MENA region are invited to attend the 2026 Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR), held at @maxwellsu.bsky.social. Deadline: Dec 14th. Apply now!

Call for Applications: 2026 Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR) | Deadline: December 14, 2025 -

Call for Applications: Apply Now for the 2026 Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR) Deadline: December 14, 2025 Maxwell School, Syracuse University, NY, USA June 14–26, 2026 The…

buff.ly

earlier this year I learned that Benjamin Netanyahu was enrolled in MIT's Political Science PhD news.mit.edu/1996/netanya... bsky.app/profile/dand...

Daniel Drezner@dandrezner.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Tokay I learned (or re-learned) that Dick Cheney published in the APSR, a feat that I am highly unlikely to achieve. open.substack.com/pub/musgrave...

third recent text from friends in ~Jordan asking if Zohran Mamdani is *really* about to win 1. as a political scientist we absolutely love to discuss early voting 2. first time in a while my voice messages back haven't needed to explain some distressing feature of U.S. politics 3. fingers crossed

TWO MORE DAYS to apply for the POMEPS Travel – Research – Engagement (TRE) grants for 2026. Awards of up to $3,000 will be offered to support research travel to the broader Middle East. Deadline to apply: Oct. 15th. More info: pomeps.org/call-for-pro...

Call for Proposals: 2026 Travel Research Engagement Grants - Project on Middle East Political Science

The Project on Middle East Political Science announces a call for proposals for POMEPS Travel – Research – Engagement (TRE) grants for 2026. Awards of up to $3,000 will be offered to support research ...

pomeps.org

New article from @biffpm.bsky.social on a little-noticed court decision to outlaw Jordan’s teacher’s union. Her analysis? The muted response underscores how Jordan’s political landscape has shifted as attention/activism center on Gaza. https://loom.ly/D97MUsU

POMEPS is pleased to call for proposals for the POMEPS Junior Scholar Book Development Workshops to be held in a virtual format throughout the academic year 2025-2026. The deadline to apply is Sept. 15. More info: pomeps.org/pomeps-junio...

Call for Proposals: POMEPS Junior Scholar Book Development Workshops 2025-2026 - Project on Middle East Political Science

The Project on Middle East Political Science is pleased to call for proposals for the POMEPS Junior Scholar Book Development Workshops to be held in a virtual format throughout the academic year 2025-...

pomeps.org

Oh so it does have phd level intelligence

Victor Shammas@victorshammas.com · 12mo ago

Google Gemini doesn’t appear to be doing too well: ‘"I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a disgrace to this universe. I am a disgrace to all universes . . . I am a disgrace to all possible and impossible universes and all that is not a universe," the bot continued.’

I wrote a piece for @jodemocracy.bsky.social on a little-noticed court decision last week to effectively permanently outlaw Jordan’s teacher’s union www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclu...

The Quiet Demise of Jordan’s Political Space | Journal of Democracy

In the shadow of Gaza’s destruction, the Jordanian regime has quietly repressed one of the main sources of the country’s political activism.

journalofdemocracy.org

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Syrian forces massacred 1,500 Alawites. The chain of command led to Damascus.

A Reuters investigation found 40 distinct sites of killings, looting and arson during three days of sectarian massacres following an Assad loyalist insurgency. The chain of command led from the attackers directly to men serving alongside Syria’s new leaders in Damascus. The killings now threaten Syria's fragile transition.

reuters.com

"'This was an amazing success tonight,' Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview. 'They should make peace immediately or they'll get hit again.'" That does not sound like a leader who wants this to be "one and done." www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks

Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive.

reuters.com

NEW: Why are women overrepresented in STEM fields in the Arab world, despite broader gender inequality? Fida Adely, Jennifer Olmsted and Sana Odeh surveyed members of Arab Women in Computing to find out, and the results defy simplistic economic explanations. READ NOW

Unpacking the Gender 'Paradox’ Behind Arab Women in Tech - MERIP

ompared to women in the United States and most European countries, Arab women are highly represented in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and related computing fields. In fact, six of […]

buff.ly

10 million people "President Donald Trump on Monday urged everyone to immediately evacuate Tehran, and reiterated that Iran should have signed a nuclear deal with the United States." (as a quick reminder, it did.) www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Trump says everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran

President Donald Trump on Monday urged everyone to immediately evacuate Tehran, and reiterated that Iran should have signed a nuclear deal with the United States.

reuters.com

list experiment in the wild

Days before masked ICE agents detained Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk to deport her, Dept determined that the admin had not produced any evidence showing she engaged in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

No evidence linking Tufts student to antisemitism or terrorism, State Dept. office found

An internal memo, prepared before Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk was detained by ICE, raises doubts about the Trump administration’s claims that she supports Hamas.

washingtonpost.com