Research Projects
Everyday experiences of power (oppression and resistance): To be updated shortly.
Ethics of research on violence/conflict: To be updated shortly.
Narratives of violence and repression: My Master's thesis explores narratives of violence and repression at the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. In the spring of 2011, as anti-regime demonstrations flared up across Syria, personal testimonies began to surface claiming that Bashar al-Assad’s regime was surreptitiously spreading rumors specifically meant to spark sectarian feud. Clandestine state operations of this sort seem odd, as previous research demonstrates the difficulty of subduing factionalized opposition. Additionally, Assad’s Ba’ath party has a long history of uniting Syrians across religious and social divides and has worked endlessly to quell sectarian discord. Why would a regime provoke societal tension and discord while attempting to reunify a country? Here, I suggest that rumor spreading is part of a larger category of ‘indirect repression.’ Though indirect repression does not inflict immediate bodily harm, it does play an important role in the state’s violent reassertion of power. Because direct violence against protesters can often have a mobilizing effect, states use indirect tactics of repression to divide the opposition and bolster the state narrative of violence. This demobilizes both active and potential protesters, allowing the state to effectively and violently represses demonstrations. The interaction of repressive tactics along various dimensions is largely overlooked within the literature, and therefore this paper begins developing a new theory of repression.
Insurgency group formation: Some of my earlier research has examined the relationships between different non-state violent actors (insurgency groups) during conflict. My work looked at when and why these groups are able to form strong alliances during war. I am also interested in the ways violence is "justified," and the relationship between extreme violence and the rule of law.
Ethics of research on violence/conflict: To be updated shortly.
Narratives of violence and repression: My Master's thesis explores narratives of violence and repression at the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. In the spring of 2011, as anti-regime demonstrations flared up across Syria, personal testimonies began to surface claiming that Bashar al-Assad’s regime was surreptitiously spreading rumors specifically meant to spark sectarian feud. Clandestine state operations of this sort seem odd, as previous research demonstrates the difficulty of subduing factionalized opposition. Additionally, Assad’s Ba’ath party has a long history of uniting Syrians across religious and social divides and has worked endlessly to quell sectarian discord. Why would a regime provoke societal tension and discord while attempting to reunify a country? Here, I suggest that rumor spreading is part of a larger category of ‘indirect repression.’ Though indirect repression does not inflict immediate bodily harm, it does play an important role in the state’s violent reassertion of power. Because direct violence against protesters can often have a mobilizing effect, states use indirect tactics of repression to divide the opposition and bolster the state narrative of violence. This demobilizes both active and potential protesters, allowing the state to effectively and violently represses demonstrations. The interaction of repressive tactics along various dimensions is largely overlooked within the literature, and therefore this paper begins developing a new theory of repression.
Insurgency group formation: Some of my earlier research has examined the relationships between different non-state violent actors (insurgency groups) during conflict. My work looked at when and why these groups are able to form strong alliances during war. I am also interested in the ways violence is "justified," and the relationship between extreme violence and the rule of law.
Research Interests
- Comparative Politics
- International Relations
- Public Law
- Social Movements
- State Repression
- State Violence
- 'Everyday' State Functions (Bureaucracy, Public Administration, etc.)
- International Security
- Justice
- Law and Society
- Middle Eastern Politics
Publications / WritingDissertation: Oppositional Lives: Sustaining, skirting, and subverting systems of oppression in Palestine. University of Washington, 2020.
"Explaining extremism: Western women in Daesh." European Journal of International Security 3.1 (2018): 45-68. (with Meredith Loken) “The West Needs to Take the Politics of Women in ISIS Seriously.” Foreign Policy. (2019) (with Kanisha D. Bond, Kate Cronin-Furman, Meredith Loken, Milli Lake, and Sarah E. Parkinson): LINK |
|