Politics and International Relations
HISTORY · POLITICS · THE MIDDLE EAST
Writing
Academic research and public essays on the histories and politics of the modern Middle East.
Academic articles & chapters · Essays & public scholarship
Academic articles and chapters
Selected peer-reviewed articles and contributions to edited volumes. Full citations and publication links are available in the academic archive.
Rebuilding the State in Post-Assad Syria
2025 · Journal of Democracy 36, no. 2, pp. 68–77.
Symbolic Politics and Secular Logics in the Middle East: Charles Tripp as Social Theorist
2025 · In Power, Resistance, Ideology and the State, edited by Toby Dodge, Daniel Neep, and Ali Ansari.
“What have the Ottomans ever done for us?” Why History Matters for Politics in the Arab Middle East
2021 · International Affairs 97, no. 6, pp. 1825–1841.
Narrating Crisis, Constructing Policy: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in Syria
2018 · New Political Economy 23, no. 4, pp. 495–511.
State-Space beyond Territory: Wormholes, Gravitational Fields, and Entanglement
2017 · Journal of Historical Sociology 30, no. 3, pp. 466–495.
War, State Formation, and Culture
2013 · International Journal of Middle East Studies 45, no. 4, pp. 795–797.
Essays and public scholarship
Writing for readers beyond the academy, connecting historical research with contemporary political questions.
An Ottoman age of experiments
Engelsberg Ideas · 4 September 2026
On Ottoman political adaptation, law, and the histories obscured by narratives of decline.
What Are Syria’s Political Trials For?
Arab Center Washington DC · 18 August 2026
Accountability and the political purposes of trials in post-Assad Syria.
Iran Is the Dumb, Disastrous Remake of Desert Storm
Foreign Policy · 3 April 2026
The Populist and the Pragmatist: Why Trump Sees a Kindred Spirit in Syria’s al-Sharaa
Arab Center Washington DC · 11 November 2025
Reading the Syrian Public Opinion Survey 2025: Indicators of Optimism
Arab Center Washington DC · 19 September 2025
Beyond Assad: The Rise of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Syria’s Uncertain Future
With Haian Dukhan · Edited by Ramyar D. Rossoukh · Crown Conversation · December 2024
Ambivalence and Desire in Revolutionary Syria
Middle East Report · November 2020
Reading, listening, and discussion
The relationship between historical research and contemporary politics also runs through my books and public conversations. The media page brings together lectures, interviews, and short ACW Fresh Takes.
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