Pomeps Conversations

Sarah Parkinson of Johns Hopkins University joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, Beyond the Lines: Social Networks and Palestinian Militant Organizations in Wartime Lebanon. The book shows that most militants approach asymmetrical warfare as a series of challenges centered around information and logistics, characterized by problems such as supplying constantly mobile forces, identifying collaborators, disrupting rival belligerents' operations, and providing essential services like healthcare. (Starts at 0:48). Wendy Pearlman of Northwestern University discusses her article, "Emotional Sensibility: Exploring the Methodological and Ethical Implications of Research Participants’ Emotions," published by Cambridge University Press. (Starts at 35:58). Music for this season’s podcast was created by Myyuh. You can find more of her work on SoundCloud and Instagram. You can listen to this week’s podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or SoundCloud.

Ch12 Triumph over Adversity: Reflections on the Practice of Middle East Political Science by Marc Lynch

Tobias Zumbragel of University of Hamburg joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, Political Power and Environmental Sustainability in Gulf Monarchies. The book analyzes the political dynamics behind the sustainable transformation in the oil and gas-rich Gulf and explains the political factors behind the green transformation. (Starts at 1:02). Nermin Allam of Rutgers University discusses her research on women's participation in the Egyptian uprising and the afterlives of that protest. Check out her articles: "The afterlife goes on: The biographical consequences of women's engagement in the 2011 Egyptian uprising," & "Women’s Unveiling in the 2011 Egyptian Uprising: Political Opportunities and Modesty Politics." You can also listen to one of our previous podcast posts about her book, "Women and the Egyptian Revolution: Engagement and Activism During the 2011 Arab Uprisings." (Starts at 32:09). Steffen Hertog of the London School of Economics discusses his chapter in The Political Scienc

Munira Khayyat of The American University in Cairo joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, A Landscape of War: Ecologies of Resistance and Survival in South Lebanon. The book analyzes life along the southern border of Lebanon, where resistant ecologies thrive amid a terrain of perennial war. (Starts at 1:45). Neil Ketchley of the University of Oxford discusses his new article, Burnings, Beatings, and Bombings: Disaggregating Anti-Christian Violence in Egypt, 2013-2018 (co-authored with Christopher Barrie and Killian Clark). (Starts at 45:27). Also, POMEPS is thrilled to release our latest Professional Development Seminar - Hidden Curriculum: How to Publish Your First Book. In the fourth POMEPS Professional Development Seminar, Marc Lynch and Jillian Schwedler discuss how to submit a book as a first time author. This webinar gives advice to junior scholars who want to turn their dissertation into a book in an effort to demystify the process. They are joined by Caelyn Cobb of C

Dalia Ghanem of the European Union Institute for Security Studies joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, Understanding the Persistence of Competitive Authoritarianism in Algeria. The book analyzes the secrets behind the Algerian regime’s survival and the pillars of its longevity. (Starts at 0:42). Sammy Zeyad Badran of The American University of Sharjah, discusses his new book, Killing Contention: Demobilization in Morocco during the Arab Spring. The book deepens our understanding of modern political movements and the complicated factors that lead to their demise. (Starts at 35:41).

Aaron Rock-Singer of the University of Wisconsin-Madison joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, In the Shade of the Sunna: Salafi Piety in the Twentieth-Century Middle East. The book analyzes how Salafism is a creation of the twentieth century and how its signature practices emerged primarily out of Salafis’ competition with other social movements. (Starts at 0:55). Rana Khoury of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lama Mourad of Carleton University, and Rawan Arar of the University of Washington discuss their chapter in The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings, which focuses on how the region has governed and been affected by migration after the Arab Uprisings in 2011 (co-authored with Laurie Brand, Noora Lori, and Wendy Pearlman). (Starts at 28:29). Lindsay Benstead of Portland State University and Kristin Kao of the University of Gothenburg discuss female electability in the Arab world and the benefits of intersectionality

Jessica Watkins of the London School of Economics joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, Creating Consent in an Illiberal Order: Policing Disputes in Jordan. The book focuses on the development of the Jordanian police institution to demonstrate that rather than being primarily concerned with law enforcement, the police are first and foremost concerned with order. (Starts at 1:02). Killian Clarke of Princeton University and Chantal Berman of Georgetown University discuss their chapter in The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings, which focuses on the eruption of Arab protests in 2011 and the recent wave of Arab uprisings in 2019 (co-authored with Jillian Schwedler and Nermin Allam). (Starts at 30:13). Jeannie Sowers of the University of New Hampshire discusses environmental politics in Egypt and the potential implications of the COP27 conference. You can find her book: Environmental Politics in Egypt: Activists, Experts and the State. (Star

Marc Owen Jones Hamad bin Khalifa University  joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media. The book analyzes how social media has been weaponised by states and commercial entities in the Middle East. (Starts at 0:45). Andre Bank of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and Sean Yom of Temple University discuss their chapter in The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings, which focuses on how authoritarianism has remained the predominant form of government in the MENA (co-authored with Eva Bellin, Michael Herb, Lisa Wedeen, and Saloua Zerhouni). (Starts at 35:27). Music for this season’s podcast was created by Myyuh. You can find more of her work on SoundCloud and Instagram.

Hesham Sallam of Stanford University joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, Classless Politics: Islamist Movements, the Left, and Authoritarian Legacies in Egypt. The book offers an account of the relationship between neoliberal economics and Islamist politics in Egypt that sheds new light on the worldwide trend of “more identity, less class.” (Starts at 0:59). You can read Marc Lynch's review of the book on his blog. Jeff Colgan of Brown University discusses new OPEC+ policies and how U.S.-Saudi relations have been impacted. (Starts at 30:29). You can find his book, Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order on Amazon and other retailers. Ora Szekely of Clark University and Devorah Manekin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discuss their chapter in The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings, which focuses on organized political violence since the Arab Uprising (co-authored with Kevin Koehler and Holger Albrecht). (Starts at

Nazanin Shahrokni of the London School of Economics joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, Women in Place: The Politics of Gender Segregation in Iran. The book offers a gripping inquiry into gender segregation policies and women’s rights in contemporary Iran. (Starts at 1:07). Tarek Masoud of Harvard University discusses his chapter in The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings, which focuses on Islam and the study of religion and politics in the Middle East (co-authored with Khalil al-Anani, Courtney Freer, and Quinn Mecham). (Starts at 36:46). Michael Robbins of the Arab Barometer discusses the seventh wave that captures the attitudes of citizens across the MENA since the onset of COVID. (Starts at 56:49). Music for this season’s podcast was created by Myyuh. You can find more of her work on SoundCloud and Instagram.

Michael Christopher Low of the University of Utah joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj. The book analyzes the late Ottoman hajj and Hijaz region as transimperial spaces, reshaped by the competing forces of Istanbul’s project of frontier modernization and the extraterritorial reach of British India’s steamship empire in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. (Starts at 1:07) Mohammad Ali Kadivar of Boston College discusses the current waves of protests in Iran. (Starts at 32:23) Sarah El-Kazaz of the University of London and Lana Salman of Harvard University discuss their chapter in The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings, which focuses on a relational approach to local politics and the lack of subnational literature that engages with the MENA region. (co-authored with Mona Harb and Janine Clark). (Starts at 47:13) Music for this season’s podcast was created by Myyuh. You can find

In this week's podcast, Marc Lynch begins the episode by announcing the winners of the American Political Science Association MENA Politics Section Awards. (Starts at 0:56) Maya Mikdashi of the Rutgers University joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, Sectarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism, and the State in Lebanon. The book analyzes how sex, sexuality, and sect shape and are shaped by law, secularism, and sovereignty in Lebanon. (Starts at 5:47). On today's episode, March Lynch speaks with Greg Gause of Texas A&M University, Curtis Ryan of Appalachian State University, and Waleed Hazbun of the University of Alabama about their chapter in The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings, which focuses on the U.S.'s declining geopolitical leverage in the Middle East. (Starts at 36:41).  Music for this season’s podcast was created by Myyuh. You can find more of her work on SoundCloud and Instagram.

On the first episode of Season 12 of the POMEPS Middle East Political Science Podcast, Marc Lynch speaks with Jillian Schwedler of City University of New York, and Sean Yom of Temple University about their co-edited volume, The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research Since the Arab Uprisings. The volume is a definitive overview of what political scientists are working on within the Middle East and North Africa. Its dozen chapters cover an exhaustive array of topics, including authoritarianism and democracy, contentious politics, regional security, military institutions, conflict and violence, the political economy of development, Islamist movements, identity and sectarianism, public opinion, migration, and local politics. (Starts at 02:26). This season of the podcast will also include conversations with the authors of each chapter from the book. On today's episode, Bassel Salloukh of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and Alexandra Siegel of University of Colorado at Boulder talk about

José Ciro Martínez of the University of Cambridge joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, States of Subsistence: The Politics of Bread in Contemporary Jordan. The book argues that the state is best understood as the product of routine practices and actions, through which it becomes a stable truth in the lives of citizens. (Starts at 0:57). Jessica Barnes of the University of South Carolina and author of Cultivating the Nile: The Everyday Politics of Water in Egypt discusses the politics of bread in Egypt (Starts at 31:21).  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.

Megan Brown of Swarthmore College joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, The Seventh Member State: Algeria, France, and the European Community. The book combats understandings of Europe’s “natural” borders by emphasizing the extracontinental contours of the early union. The unification vision was never spatially limited, suggesting that contemporary arguments for geographic boundaries excluding Turkey and areas of Eastern Europe from the European Union must be seen as ahistorical. (Starts at 0:44). Sami Atallah of The Policy Initiative and Christiana Parreira of Princeton University discuss the results of recent elections in Lebanon (Starts at 33:27). Cinzia Bianco of the European Council on Foreign Relations discusses the succession of Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the United Arab Emirates. (Starts at 53:31). 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.

On this week's episode of the podcast, Jeannie Sowers of University of New Hampshire joins Marc Lynch to discuss POMEPS's newest publication, POMEPS Studies 46:Environmental Politics in the Middle East and North Africa. (Starts at 0:36). Mariam Salehi of Freie University Berlin discusses her new book, Transitional justice in process: Plans and politics in Tunisia. The book discusses the development and design of the transitional justice mandate, and looks at the performance of transitional justice institutions in practice. It examines the role of international justice professionals in different stages of the process, as well as the alliances and frictions between different actor groups that cut across the often-assumed local-international divide. (Starts at 32:24). 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.

Jannis Julien Grimm of the Freie University of Berlin joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, Contested Legitimacies: Repression and Revolt in Post-Revolutionary Egypt. The book explores this resilience of contentious politics through a multimethod approach that is attuned to the physical and discursive interactions among key players in Egypt’s protest arena. (Starts at 0:46). Marwa Fatafta of Access Now discusses digital authoritarianism, content moderation, and the potential impact of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. (Starts at 33:13). Thanassis Cambanis of Century International discusses their new project on citizenship, armed groups, and comparing the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. (Starts at 48:22). 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.

Jillian Schwedler of Hunter College joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, Protesting Jordan: Geographies of Power and Dissent. In the book, Schwedler examines protests as they are situated in the built environment, bringing together considerations of networks, spatial imaginaries, space and place-making, and political geographies at local, national, regional, and global scales. (Starts at 0:31). Deen Sharp of the London School of Economics discusses climate change in the Gulf, and references his report, "The Quiet Emergency: Experiences and Understandings of Climate Change in Kuwait." (Starts at 31:41). Ali Kadivar of Boston College discusses his new article, "Social Development and Revolution in Iran." (Starts at 47:53).

Michael Provence of University of California San Diego joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East. In the book, Provence examines the collapse of the Ottoman empire through popular political movements and the experience of colonial rule. (Starts at 0:39). Gamze Cavdar of Colorado State University discusses her article, "Why Women Support Conservative Parties: The Case of Turkey" published in Political Science Quarterly. (Starts at 32:13). Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland discusses our joint project on the Middle East Scholar Barometer. (Starts at 46:33). 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.

Erin Snider of Texas A&M University joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss her new book, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid In the Middle East. In the book, Snider examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco and the limited impact of international aid. (Starts at 0:42). Steven Brooke of the University of Wisconsin-Madison discuss his article, co-authored by Elizabeth Nugent of Yale University,  "Who votes after a coup? Theory and evidence from Egypt" published in Mediterranean Politics. (Starts at 29:15). Mai El-Sadany of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy discusses the problem with Egyptian prisoners and human rights. (Starts at 43:17). 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.