Pomeps Conversations

Justin Schon of the University of Virginia talks about his latest book, Surviving the War in Syria: Survival Strategies in a Time of Conflict, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. In the book, he emphasizes that civilian behavior in conflict zones includes repertoires of survival strategies, instead of migration alone; he utilizes a microanalysis of civilian self-protection strategies during armed conflict in Syria. (Starts at 32:01). Tarek Masoud of the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Middle East Initiative speaks about his new article entitled, "The Arab Spring at 10: Kings or People?," published in the Journal of Democracy. (Starts at 1:03). Justin Gengler of Qatar University discusses his new article (co-authored with Mark Tessler of University of Michigan, Russell Lucas of Michigan State University and Jonathan Forney of the George Washington University), "Why Do You Ask?’ The Nature and Impacts of Attitudes towards Public Opinion Surveys in the Arab World," published in the British Jou

Marc Owen Jones of Hamad bin Khalifa University talks about his latest book, Political Repression in Bahrain, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book explores Bahrain's modern history through the lens of repression, and spans the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, looking at all forms of political repression from legal, statecraft, police brutality and informational controls. (Starts at 26:28). Drew Kinney of Tulane University discusses his article, "Sharing Saddles: Oligarchs and Officers on Horseback in Egypt and Tunisia," published in International Studies Quarterly. (Starts at 0:47). Chad Raymond of Salve Regina University talks about his article, "Old Wine in a New Bottle: How to Teach the Comparative Politics of the Middle East with Fiction," published in the Journal of Political Science Education. (Starts at 14:36) Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Devorah Manekin of Hebrew University of Jerusalem talks about her latest book, Regular Soldiers, Irregular War: Violence and Restraint in the Second Intifada, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book presents a theoretical framework for understanding the various forms of behavior in which soldiers engage during counterinsurgency campaigns—compliance and shirking, abuse and restraint, as well as the creation of new violent practices. (Starts at 32:41). Jeannie Sowers of University of Hampshire and Erika Weinthal of Duke University speak about their new article entitled, "Humanitarian challenges and the targeting of civilian infrastructure in the Yemen war," published in International Affairs. (Starts at 0:54). Joshua Freedman of Oberlin College discusses his new article, "The Recognition Dilemma: Negotiating Identity in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict," published in International Studies Quarterly. (Starts at 18:17). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of hi

Dara Conduit of Deakin University talks about her book, The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book explores the Muslim Brotherhood's history to understand why it failed to capitalize on its advantage as the most prominent opposition group in Syria as the conflict unfolded, addressing significant gaps in accounts of the group's past to assess whether its reputation for violence and dogmatism is justified. (Starts at 29:05). Marwa Shalaby of the University of Wisconsin joins to talk about her article, "Women in Legislative Committees in Arab Parliaments" (co-authored by Leila Elimam), published in Comparative Politics. (Starts at 0:47). Bozena Welborne of Smith College discusses her article, "On Their Own? Women Running as Independent Candidates in the Middle East," published in Middle East Law and Governance. (Starts at 15:35).  Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Robert Springborg of the Naval Postgraduate School talks about his latest book, Political Economies of the Middle East and North Africa, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. In the book, he discusses the economic future of the [MENA] region by examining the national and regional political causes of its contemporary underperformance.  (Starts at 37:19). May Darwich of the University of Birmingham, Waleed Hazbun of University of Alabama, Adham Saouli of University of St. Andrews, and Karim Makdisi of the American University of Beirut speak about their new collection of essays entitled, "The Politics of Teaching International Relations in the Arab World: Reading Walt in Beirut, Wendt in Doha, and Abul-Fadl in Cairo," published in International Studies Perspectives. The collection also includes pieces by Morten Valbjorn of Aarhus University, Bassel Salloukh of the Lebanese American University, Amira Abu Samra of Cairo University, Said Saddiki of University of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, and Hamad Albloshi of K

Avital Livny of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne talks about her latest book, Trust and the Islamic Advantage: Religious-Based Movements in Turkey and the Muslim World, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast.  The book shows that the Islamic advantage is rooted in feelings of trust among individuals with a shared, religious group-identity, and presents a new argument for conceptualizing religion as both a personal belief system and collective identity. (Starts at 27:01). Ala' Alrababa'h discusses the article, Attitudes Toward Migrants in a Highly Impacted Economy: Evidence From the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan (co-authored by Andrea Dillon, Scott Williamson, Jens Hainmueller, Dominik Hangartner, Jeremy M. Weinstein) published in Comparative Political Studies. (Starts at 0:58). Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl of Leiden University talks about his article, On-Side fighting in civil war: The logic of mortal alignment in Syria, published in the Rationality and Society journal. (Starts at 12:58). Music for

Glenn Robinson of the Naval Postgraduate School talks about his latest book, Global Jihad: A Brief History, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book tells the story of four distinct jihadi waves, each with its own program for achieving a global end: whether a Jihadi International to liberate Muslim lands from foreign occupation; al-Qa'ida's call to drive the United States out of the Muslim world; ISIS using "jihadi cool" to recruit followers; or leaderless efforts of stochastic terror to "keep the dream alive." (Starts at 24:22). Dina Bishara of Cornell University discusses her new article, "Precarious Collective Action: Unemployed Graduates Associations in the Middle East and North Africa." (Starts at 0:50). Sarah Parkinson of Johns Hopkins University talks about "Practical Ideology in Militant Organizations." (Starts at 10:17). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Ahmed Khanani of Earlham College talks about his latest book, All Politics are God’s Politics: Moroccan Islamism and the Sacralization of Democracy, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book enables readers to understand and appreciate the significance of dimuqrāṭiyya [democracy] as a concept alongside new prospects for Islam and democracy in the Arab Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (Starts at 22:49). Kaoutar Ghilani of Oxford University speaks about her new article, "The legitimate’ after the uprisings: justice, equity, and language politics in Morocco," published in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. (Starts at 0:56). Chantal Berman of Georgetown University discusses her new article, "Policing the Organizational Threat in Morocco: Protest and Public Violence in Liberal Autocracies," published in the American Journal of Political Science. (Starts at 11:41). Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.

Aaron Rock-Singer of University of Wisconsin-Madison talks about his latest book, Practicing Islam in Egypt: Print Media and Islamic Revival, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book shows how Islamic activists and institutions across the political spectrum reshaped daily practices [in Egypt] in an effort to persuade followers to adopt novel models of religiosity. (Starts at 27:42). Bassel Salloukh of Lebanese-American University speaks about his new special issue article, "Consociational Power‐Sharing in the Arab World: A Critical Stocktaking," published in the Journal of Studies of in Ethnicity and Nationalism. (Starts at 1:13). Carolyn Barnett, graduate student at Princeton University, and Steve Monroe of Yale-NUS College discuss their new piece (co-authored with Amaney Jamal of Princeton University), "Earned Income and Women’s Segmented Empowerment: Experimental Evidence from Jordan," published in the American Journal of Political Science. You can also read their piece on Remote work and women’s e

Alex Thurston of the University of Cincinnati talks about his latest book, Jihadists of North Africa and the Sahel: Local Politics and Rebel Groups with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book studies cases of jihadist movements in North Africa and the Sahel, examining them from the inside, uncovering their activities and internal struggles over the past three decades. (Starts at 19:50). Michael Robbins, Director of the Arab Barometer, introduces the Arab Barometer and discusses recent polling work on themes including the normalization of Arab states with Israel, and the effects of COVID-19. (Starts at 1:14). Christiana Parreira of Stanford University discusses her recent article, "Power politics: Armed non-state actors and the capture of public electricity in post-invasion Baghdad," published in the Journal of Peace Research. (Starts at 10:10).

Kelsey Norman of Rice University talks about her latest book, Reluctant Reception: Refugees, Migration and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book proposes the concept of 'strategic indifference', where states [such as Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey] proclaim to be indifferent toward migrants and refugees, thereby inviting international organizations and local NGOs to step in and provide services on the state's behalf. (Starts at 28:27). Gail Buttorff of University of Houston speaks about her new report, "COVID-19 Pandemic Compounds Challenges Facing MENA Research," (co-authored with Nermin Allam of Rutgers University and Marwa Shalaby of University of Wisconsin-Madison) published in the American Political Science Association Fall 2020 MENA Politics Newsletter. You can also read their pieces: "A Survey Reveals How the Pandemic Has Hurt MENA Research" and "Gender, COVID and Faculty Service." (Starts at 1:40). Samer Abboud of Villanova University discusses his

Aaron Jakes talks about his latest book, Egypt’s Occupation: Colonial Economism and the Crises of Capitalism, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book offers a sweeping reinterpretation of both the historical geography of capitalism in Egypt and the role of political-economic thought in the struggles that raged over the occupation. Jakes explains, “In the broadest sense, the book, it is a history of the period of British rule in Egypt after the occupation of 1882. And it makes three broad arguments: first, that this particular form of colonial rule was organized around the discourse that I call colonial economist…the second major argument of the book is that under these conditions, Egypt became a crucial laboratory and target for financial investment in the worldwide financial expansion that was characteristic of global capitalism at the end of the 19th century. And finally, I'm sort of interested in the interplay between the discursive claims of the British regime and these dramatic transformations

Joas Wagemakers talks about his new book, The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book explores the Muslim Brotherhood’s long history and complex relationship with Jordan, its parliament and society. “In Jordan [the Muslim Brotherhood] basically had Royal support from the very start, and the reason for that was that the King did not really have a lot of authority within the country of Transjordan, as it was still called in the 1920s and 30s and 40s, and sought sources of authority that would help him gain the status of King or ruler in this new nation” explains Wagemakers. Wagemakers says, “After 1989, when decisions had to be made about: are we going to participate in elections, are we going to participate in the government if the government asked us to, are we going to be responsible for the decisions that we make. [The Muslim Brotherhood] really had to make political decisions. The existing divisions within the Muslim Brotherhood became clearer and clearer.” “The

Sherine Hafez talks about her latest book, Women of the Midan: Untold Stories of Egypt’s Revolutionaries, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. In her book, she demonstrates how women were a central part of the revolutionary process of the Arab Spring; not only protesting in the streets of Cairo, but also demanding democracy, social justice, and renegotiation of a variety of sociocultural structures that repressed and disciplined them. Hafez explains, “I just wanted to make sure that the contributions of women in the Midan during the uprisings, and specifically in Egypt, were documented so that…the activism cannot be written off as just part of the revolution…And I wanted so much to make sure that this is a record that can be read by future young activists of all genders, so that they can look back and know that there is a record of their contributions to politics in the Middle East.” Hafez goes on, “When I decided to write the book, the revolution was in its hey-day…The revolutionaries felt that things c

Elizabeth Nugent talks about her new book, After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book explores how polarization and repression led to different political outcomes in Tunisia and Egypt. Nugent explains, “When I started my fieldwork in Tunisia, it was clear to me again coming from Egypt with that kind of as my baseline how differently people spoke about each other and so the more I dug in the more that repression - the way in which the Ben Ali regime and the Mubarak regime repressed these different opposition groups - was very key for why these two different places ended up very differently polarized.” “It’s possible that as repression has come to touch a number of different groups in Egypt in the current moment it’s softening some of these identity politics that have been problematic in the past,” says Nugent. Nugent says, “What I find is that there are higher levels of both affective and preference polarization, here meaning negative a

Anne Marie Baylouny talks about her latest book, When Blame Backfires: Syrian Refugees and Citizen Grievances in Jordan and Lebanon, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book explains how the recent influx of Syrian refugees into Jordan and Lebanon has stimulated domestic political action against these countries' governments. Baylouny explains, “So usually these governments use all kinds of groups…to blame for their faults. Oh we can't provide this. We have water shortage because of the Iraqis. This problem with the government is because of another group and they blame them for all their lack of state capacity. So here you have an overwhelming number of Syrians over a quarter of Lebanon's population and at least 10 percent of Jordan's, probably their first and second in the world for refugees per capita. And they're foreigners and a lot of them are poor and they came in in masses…So you have they have all the elements that you would expect states to be able to successfully deflect blame from themselve

Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl talks about his latest book, Quagmire in Civil War, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. His book explains he explains how quagmire can emerge from domestic-international interactions and strategic choices and draws upon field research on Lebanon's sixteen-year civil war, structured comparisons with civil wars in Chad and Yemen, and rigorous statistical analyses of all civil wars worldwide fought between 1944 and 2006. Schulhofer-Wohl explains, “I was very interested in digging into an idea of how it was that the groups that are fighting in civil wars can become trapped in a war…There are some wars in which it looks like for whatever reason the armed groups that are fighting in them are unable to win the war. They're unable to negotiate to make a settlement and the war just drags on. But there's something about that that's different from just a war that lasts for a very long time.” He goes on to say, “The book makes the point that we kind of have a default view of entrapment and c

Hiba Bou Akar talks about her latest book, For the War Yet to Come: Planning Beirut’s Frontiers, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book examines urban planning in three neighborhoods of Beirut's southeastern peripheries, revealing how these areas have been developed into frontiers of a continuing sectarian order. Bou Akar explains, “So I start looking at the planning and how these residential complexes ended up mushrooming in an agricultural area but also next to inductees and eventually like a whole world starts opening to me about how… war displacement has shaped the housing market. There are political organizations that are fighting over territory after the war. And how planning is a tool in that conflict. It would sometimes be of negotiation and sometimes of contestation.” She goes on to say, “So the [idea of], For The War Yet to Come ends up being like this expectation of war that is either going to be like an Arab-Israeli war…or sectarian war, a regional war or whatever; that ends up shaping

Aili Tripp talks about her latest book, Seeking Legitimacy: Why Arab Autocracies Adopt Women’s Rights, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book explores why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria embraced more legal reforms of women’s rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts, and how women’s rights were used to advance the political goals of these authoritarian regimes. Tripp explains, “I was interested in the fact that you have this growing divergence within the MENA region itself in terms of the adoption of women’s rights, yet people keep talking about the region as one monolith when it came to women’s rights. “The fact that women’s rights are such a central theme in north African politics. I mean nothing happens without the issue of women’s rights coming to the floor somehow as we saw at the time of independence in Algeria, as we saw after the Arab Spring in Tunisia with the debates over the constitution in 2011,” notes Tripp. Tripp says, “Why are autocrats adopting women’s rig

Amr Adly talks about his latest book, Cleft Capitalism: The Social Origins of Failed Market Making in Egypt, with Marc Lynch on this week’s podcast. The book explores why market-based economic development failed to meet expectations in Egypt. “The main argument is that we have three business systems in Egypt in reference to rules formal as well as informal and mixes of the two, according to which different business establishments have been operating. And the crucial thing really is how their access to physical and financial capital has been regulated.” “The main point here is that the vast majority of private establishments, the ones that are strictly owned by private individuals, have suffered from a chronic under structuring under capitalization when it comes to access to back credit given of course the structure of the financial system in Egypt, which is very much bank-based, as well as access to land.” "One of the problems here is that you have a banking system in Egypt that is still very much control