SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Skewed Recovery: Minority Assistance
Programs to Iraq in Historical Perspective
Luskin Center for History and Policy
June, 2021
In the Trump administration’s structuring of humanitarian aid to a post-Islamic State Iraq, a overarching dichotomy (between Christians and the rest of the country’s population) helped drive an approach that prioritizes a narrowly defined type of “minority protection” above all other concerns, further degrading the notion of politically neutral humanitarian aid and doing little to address the pervasive public corruption and failures of governance that affect all Iraqis.
The Syrian Political Opposition's Path to Irrelevance
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
May 15, 2020
"From the outset of the Syrian uprising, the civil- nationalist opposition—the activists and politicians who had collectively won international recognition as an alternative to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime— faced obstacles to becoming an effective actor inside Syria. It was unable to exert meaningful influence over the intricate and opaque network of civilian governance institutions that arose as the conflict progressed, and was physically separated from the armed factions that guaranteed security in areas of Syria outside government control."
"Pete Buttigieg and The Quiet American"
Slate
July 22, 2019
"Pete Buttigieg’s interpretation of Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American grounds the way he speaks about America’s actions abroad; Buttigieg cites the novel to warn of the dangers and unintended consequences found in “[innocent] intentions gone abroad to change the world” but never questions the fundamentally kind motives at the heard of American foreign policy. The Quiet American, however, contains a darker critique of America’s intentions, viewing willfully-ignorant policymaking as an evil in itself. Buttigieg’s choice to ignore one of the novel’s key messages speaks to his ambitions as an establishment-friendly candidate, fearful of challenging long-held norms about American power as he advances his political career."
"All is Not Well- The Urgency of Water Governance in Southern Syria"
ARK Group Publication
April, 2016
"Years of state water mismanagement and prolonged conflict have laid the grounds for a serious public health and environmental crisis in southern Syria. As the region’s water distribution infrastructure lies dormant, rendered useless by sustained electricity cuts, residents have largely turned to private wells, many of them haphazardly dug, to fill their drinking water needs. This has led to a drastic increase in water prices and several outbreaks of water-borne diseases, both of which will increase as a growing population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) pressures the existing infrastructure."