Angst over AI and student writing has been roiling me at an increasing strength lately. Because I haven't stopped assigning essays. I just got student evals for last semester, and I can breathe. Maybe I'm just so overwhelmed by their positive input, but... 1/6

The regimes that fight imperialism by fighting the people have lost the plot.

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.

I'm honored that Civilizing Contention is on @abuaardvark.bsky.social's list of best books of 2025, and among such a stellar group. abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/best-of-2025...

One year after toppling of Bashar Assad's regime, we've got a variety of insights on prospects for Syria's future. Check out the 7-piece symposium on Syria co-edited by @rbkhoury.bsky.social and Sefa Seçen in our latest APSA MENA Politics Newsletter. apsamena.org/mena-politic...

On this first anniversary of the stunning fall, I'm proud to be in @pomeps.bsky.social just-released collection on Syria with an essay on The Question of Return. Despite its liberatory potential, the regime’s end also exposes the deep vulnerability of Syrian refugees pomeps.org/the-question...

Cornell's got a winter sale, 44% all books! Code: 09WINTER Great time to give loved ones, and yourself, a title or two from their excellent selection for the holidays. Perhaps even mine! (Their publications in conflict studies are top notch.) www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Excited/nervous to be giving a book talk tomorrow at Illinois. My 2nd grader anticipates it will be about 5% boring. Come for the 95%! calendars.illinois.edu/detail/779/3...

In this symposium on Syria contributors paint nuanced, grim, but clear-eyed pictures of multiple transitional challenges. Comparisons to other cases and situation in poli sci lit remind us Syria's not terribly unique. Amazingly, they all suggest ways through the obstacles. zenodo.org/records/1745...

Can folks suggest books or writings by Moroccan or Egyptian activists involved in social movements? For an undergraduate thesis student who is eager to learn how the people on the ground understood their own undertakings. English or Arabic. Thanks!

To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, and to support emerging scholars, I'd like to buy and mail copies to ten graduate students. If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me! www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, and to support emerging scholars, I'd like to buy and mail copies to ten graduate students. If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me! www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

I often encounter the idea that interviews are qualitative analysis, akin to comparative method or process tracing. But I understand interviews as a method of data collection, for data to be used in comparative, within-case, or interpretive analyses. What do you all think?

So excited to hold my book! You can do so too in November! Leila Khoury's cover art captures the story of a contentious movement becoming something like a civil society in the depths of Syria's war. @cornellupress.bsky.social designed it beautifully. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Excellent dive into the possible future of the new Syria. From "The People, Power, Politics" podcast in cooperation with @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social

A published paper in a journal has cited a real chapter of mine, but in a hallucinatory way: a parenthetical citation is repeatedly used for content that is completely off the mark. Completely. So.... that's disturbing.

A conversation that grew out of work w @wendy-pearlman.bsky.social alongside Daniel Neep, hosted by @emilykmscott.bsky.social. Recorded 2 months ago, but holds up and helps think about roles of state and society in Syria's future. open.spotify.com/episode/3yIo... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

I would love for someone who has experience in a social movement to zoom into my undergrad class this fall and share. Minimal prep: orient us 5-10 min, then Q&A. In past, we learned about participation in uprisings in Syria and Hong Kong, and US labor (during a strike!). Thanks!

I would love for someone who has experience in a social movement to zoom into my undergrad class this fall and share. Minimal prep: orient us 5-10 min, then Q&A. In past, we learned about participation in uprisings in Syria and Hong Kong, and US labor (during a strike!). Thanks!

Folks, are you using or have you considered using AI for transcription of interviews? I haven't seen much discussion or info re how one protects the data through the many apps/sites/clouds. Like this is from OpenAI's transcribe to text privacy policy:

The adoption of AI into Canvas is framed here as reducing faculty workload and making students' lives easier. Not about student learning. A feature for creating "flashcards for students to review," e.g., ignores that making flashcards *is* the learning. www.chronicle.com/article/inst...

The proofs are in. It has a website. It has blurbs from amazing scholars. So I guess my book is real, and @cornellupress.bsky.social must agree! Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria's War is coming out later this year 🤓 www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

👇call for Syria papers

Those emails with good news and updates from students and former students... they're sparkles and rainbows for profs ✨

Incredible scenes in Syria as people celebrate the surprise lifting of US sanctions, the chief impediment to recovery after the fall of Assad. “There were fireworks over Damascus, and people danced in the streets.” Over to the Syrians. By @leloveluck www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Explain to me like I'm someone who doesn't subscribe to Orientalist tropes why it was the plane that broke them.

Make Syria Great Again

Upcoming Event | @natashahall.bsky.social joins @rbkhoury.bsky.social and Ibrahim al-Assil for a panel discussion at the Baker Institute about #Syrian displacement and return. 🕔 5:30 PM CDT 📆 April 29, 2025 📍 In-person at Rice University, online Register: www.bakerinstitute.org/event/syrian...

As I pre-registered back in July, the public opinion thermostat is kicking in—Trump is making American immigration attitudes great again, again. And to be honest, I don’t think it has much to do with Democratic messaging right now.

The U. of Toledo is suspending nine undergraduate programs in response Ohio's new higher ed law: Africana studies, Asian studies, data analytics, disability studies, Middle East studies, philosophy, religious studies, Spanish, & women’s & gender studies ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/04/23/u...

Are other folks reading Przeworski's substack? Oof. Deep breath.

"Here’s the uncomfortable truth: If your humanitarian mission dies when the money dries up, it was never a mission, it was a business."

I had a friend in college who was hit by a speeding truck while biking. The truck bolted, leaving him mangled, broken on the road. A passerby saw my destroyed friend, and stole his wallet; threw in a few kicks to his battered face, just in case. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/w...

Welp.

In this new article 📖 ✍️, @adamkochanski.bsky.social, Jennifer Welsh, and I talk ALL about localization, and kick off the Localization in World Politics Special Forum! Dive in open access @gsqjournal.bsky.social #OxfordUniversityPress @isanet.bsky.social 1/ doi.org/10.1093/isag...

New @wendy-pearlman.bsky.social and I argue in @jodemocracy.bsky.social that we must look to civil society as Syria's strongest asset for inclusive change and a better future. But, you might ask: Against these odds? And what civil society, anyway? 🧵1/5 muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

The US has been bombing Yemen for literal decades and as @abuaardvark.bsky.social points out recently: "Again and again, American policy in Yemen harms Yemeni civilians and strengthens the targeted adversaries." US media isn't just "burying the lead."

Speculation has suggested this could have been much worse. This is do-able. www.reuters.com/world/us-gav...

Awesome new Arabic language newsletter by @arabpsn.bsky.social collating and suggesting abstracts of recently published social science academic articles about MENA. First issue is here: alzad.substack.com/p/1

Dear 2025, You're a lot. Best, A Syrian-American

NEWS: The USAID official put on leave for disseminating two memos about Rubio's failure to push through life-saving foreign aid was in the process of writing a THIRD memo when fired. We obtained it. It's far more alarming than the first two. www.thebulwark.com/p/what-a-wee...

Love this note from my copy editor: "<AU: I removed the note here—arak is in Merriam-Webster and thus does not need an explanation> " 🥛🧿

When on the academic market, I just wanted a job (esp one that kept my family together); landing at a public university held no special meaning. Yet serving the state and its students has been one of most unexpectedly rewarding outcomes of my career. I feel purpose and accountability BECAUSE of it.

News from Syria is my palette cleanser. What a world.

Scholars of foreign policy and assistance are weighing in on the freeze of US foreign assistance and dismantling of USAID. Read the letter here (urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...) and sign via this Google form: forms.gle/JFAQGsuLyGa4... The form will close on Wednesday, February 19, 2025 at 5:00 pm EST

If Syria is to rise from the Assad regime’s ashes, its people must breathe renewed life into their tattered civic fabric and resurrect the spirit of 2011 in the post-Assad era, @matthewcebul.bsky.social & @rbkhoury.bsky.social write.

Political change in Syria began in 2011. We look back at the uprising to recover the assets it can bring to Syria today.