It's out! The full "Handbook on Authoritarianism in the Arab World" is available open access here: www.bloomsburycollections.com/encyclopedia...

Live from Seattle

The Journal of Democracy lives at CDDRL now! Excited to see this partnership grow and flourish. @jodemocracy.bsky.social @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social

⚠️ New book review! 🌍 Struggles for political change in the Arab world: regimes, oppositions, and external actors after the Spring, @lisablaydes.bsky.social, Amr Hamzawy and @wazirelkif.bsky.social, @uofmpress.bsky.social 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... ✒️Silvia Colombo

My interview with my colleague @mikealbertus.bsky.social on “the Good Society” on the regional ramifications of the US-Israel War with Iran. Teaser below Full interview: michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/a-weaker-i... Also “The Good Society” is full of gems. Check it out!

Even if the US & Israel succeed in drastically weakening Iran, will it bring stability there or elsewhere in the Middle East? My interview with @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social scholar Hesham Sallam suggests it won't. @wazirelkif.bsky.social michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/a-weaker-i...

From panel discussion, "War and the Arab World: Regional Responses and Consequences" at @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social For full panel recap and video recording....

Happening now. Please join us... fsi.stanford.edu/events/book-... @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social

Join us this morning! Register here: fsi.stanford.edu/events/book-...

🧵 @wazirelkif.bsky.social notes that in Egypt’s 2025 elections, Mustaqbal Watan still dominates the regime’s electoral coalition, despite the rise of new regime-backed parties like Al-Gabha Al-Wataniyya — reflecting efforts to diversify loyalists and balance competing security factions.

As we make sense of the new(ish) political landscape the ongoing legislative election is laying out in Egypt, it's crucial to remember that Mustaqbal Watan remains a home to a lot of networks that were tied to the Mubarak regime (either by formal or familial ties).

As legislative elections are proceeding in Egypt, a few observations on the distribution of seats among parties in the state-sponsored list (the only list contesting the party list races) when compared to the 2020 election distribution:

Excerpt from my remarks at a Stanford Democracy Day panel on “Democracy under Threat at Home and Abroad” co-sponsored by @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social and @theeuropecenter.bsky.social The continued silence on Sudan and what is happening in El Fasher is appalling.

The victory of @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social is not merely a warning sign for Trump, but also for the Democratic Party establishment. The lesson is that people will reward those who listen to them and heed the call for a more just and inclusive social order.

The best postdoc program and the coolest (and funniest)postdocs. Why would anyone want to go elsewhere? Please apply and/or spread the word.

Transcription of No Kings Day speech, Oct 18 indivisiblepaloaltoplus.org/share-the-ne...

#NoKings_PaloAlto #StanfordProfProtests 🙏 Listen to and repost inspiring speech at No Kings Day rally in Palo Alto by Stanford professor Hesham Sallam on fighting for democracy and talking to others who disagree with us. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDC7...

Inspiring words from my dear friend Hesham Sallam @wazirelkif.bsky.social youtu.be/mDC7O2TO7s4

@wazirelkif.bsky.social, @indimidpen.bsky.social and Palo Alto saying #NoKings in America!

Excerpt from my remarks at the No Kings rally in Palo Alto. For the full remarks: youtu.be/mDC7O2TO7s4

If you're looking for a #NoKingsDay II event this Sat 10/18 & in the SF Bay Area, come join @indimidpen.bsky.social and @indivisiblepaplus.bsky.social for a parade and Democracy Fair! Guests include @liccardo.house.gov @wazirelkif.bsky.social + more! www.indivisiblepeninsulabayarea.org/nokings/

Only a few days left to apply for the Spring 2026 POMEPS Virtual Research Workshops! The deadline to apply is October 15, 2025. For more information on how to apply, visit: pomeps.org/call-for-app...

There is, as of right now, no coverage of this protest on the WaPo website or in their @washingtonpost.com feed. So, if you (you reading this) want people to SEE this protest, you must share it.

Democracy colleagues, @StanfordCDDRL is launching a new Democracy Action Lab (DAL) next October To bridge the gap between scholarship and practitioners The student movement in Serbia needs international academic solidarity now Please share and sign docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Announcing a call for applications for the Spring 2026 POMEPS Virtual Research Workshops! The deadline to apply is October 15, 2025. For more information on how to apply, visit: pomeps.org/call-for-app...

But it was too late. To understand what happened, you *must* read @kimlanelaw.bsky.social's @jodemocracy.bsky.social article ▼▼ In fact, just drop what you're doing and read it now.

I’m very excited to share that my paper “Cleavage theory meets civil society: A framework and research agenda” with @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter has now been published online in ‪@wepsocial.bsky.social‬ (w/ open access funding thanks to @wzb.bsky.social‬!) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

My colleagues at @jadaliyya.bsky.social just organized an incredibly enlightening and eye-opening discussion on Israel’s strikes against Iran and the exchange of hostilities that ensued shortly after. 🧵

New analysis from @wazirelkif.bsky.social contextualizes Egypt's contemporary culture wars in a longer history of intellectual conflict between Islamist and leftist intellectual advocates that stretches back decades. 🇪🇬 READ MORE: ow.ly/nzuC50Vh2Jo

My article "Authenticity and national loyalty: the intellectual roots of Islamist-leftist affective polarisation in post-2013 Egypt" was just published in the Journal of North African Studies

My Monday op-ed in @indianexpress.com about Trump’s ‘Gaza-a-Lago’ proposal indianexpress.com/article/opin...

CDDRL's @wazirelkif.bsky.social is the author of one of @jodemocracy.bsky.social's most-read articles of 2024. Read "The Autocrat-in-Training: The Sisi Regime at 10" now: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Bassam Haddad @4bassam.bsky.social and Omar Dahi share their extensive knowledge about Syria here. m.youtube.com/watch?v=vJsy...

BREAKING The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip since October last year

ICC issues arrest warrant for Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu https://www.ft.com/content/0b62f17a-97db-4817-90f8-f98adead79f0

It's the season...please spread the word...

The application season for the @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social pre- and post- doctoral fellowships is underway. Please spread the word. (Dec. 1 deadline) ow.ly/c8eW50Txyh0

My review of five books on the Egyptian revolution and counterrevolution

Congrats @abuaardvark.bsky.social and Steve Heydemann and all the contributors! Check it out and order press.umich.edu/Books/M/Maki...

Our book Making Sense of the Arab State is published today - open access to boot! abuaardvark.substack.com/p/seeing-lik...

Hello BlueSky! Here to bring you MERIP's critical coverage of the Middle East in skeet form! Our latest issue (# 310) was released last week: The Struggle for Sudan. It features articles and interviews with scholars, aid workers, labor organizers and local observers of the conflict after one year.

APSA MENA qualitative methods camp in Tangier, Morocco. Apps due March 3! Pls share!

Some thoughts for MERIP on the Houthis' Red Sea campaign, the history of Yemeni engagement on Palestine, and the impact the US-UK response may have on Yemen's ongoing conflict. menasky polisky

Pleased to have my book on @abuaardvark.bsky.social's list and can't help but notice that the first three all came from @hurstpublishers.bsky.social's partnership with OUP. They're producing a solid list of books on Yemen, well worth your while.

Do you know a great dissertation on MENA politics that was defended in the last academic year? If so, urge them to get nominated! And if you advised one, even better - you can nominate it yourself! We've extended the deadline for our dissertation award until January 15th. Full details below.

An excellent, thorough, engagingly written article on how and why Egypt has transitioned to a more militarized, centralized kind of authoritarianism under Sisi. By @wazirelkif.bsky.social www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the...

My article "The Autocrat-in-Training: The Sisi Regime at 10" is now out in the latest issue of the Journal of Democracy: shorturl.at/ciswx (1/6)

Cairo is in the backseat of the diplomatic channels, while Doha continues to take the lead in mediation initiatives. Egypt remains relevant, only due to its geographical proximity to Palestine, not because of its soft or hard power.

Egypt's presidential race: not a competition for votes but a competition over key roles inside Sisi's political apparatus in the coming years. The election was the Sisi regime's "employee performance appraisal." The star "performers": Mustaqbal Watan and the RPP's Hazem Omar