Outside of traditional scholarship, I frequently reflect on developments and crises in the Middle East, US foreign policy, and international affairs. The selections below are short (< 3,000-word) analyses published for policy journals, professional newsletters, academic workshops, popular blogs, and public newspapers.
- “The Shirking Hegemon: Authority and Insecurity in Trump’s Middle East,” in Weak States in a Turbulent Middle East, POMEPS Studies 60, Project on Middle East Political Science, June 2026.
- “Jordan’s New Security Dilemma,” Arab Reform Initiative, 6 May 2026.
- “The Persistence of US Hierarchy in the Gulf,” in IR Theory and the Middle East at War, POMEPS Studies 58, Project on Middle East Political Science, March 2026.
- “Jordan is Encaged by the Iran War,” Democracy in Exile (online journal of Democracy in the Arab World Now), 17 March 2026.
- “The Future of Jordan Amidst the Palestinian Crisis,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 18 January 2026.
- “Expert Snapshots: Jordan Cracks Down on the Muslim Brotherhood,” Perspective of the Middle East Institute of National University of Singapore, 8 May 2025.
- “Trump’s Noxious Ethnocentrism,” Roundtable on President Trump’s first 100 days, Democracy in the Arab World Now, 29 April 2025.
- “Kuwaiti Exceptionalism Under Siege,” Royal Society for Asian Affairs, 25 April 2025.
- “Trump’s Geopolitical Blackmail of Jordan Puts King Abdullah in a Bind,” Democracy in Exile (online journal of Democracy in the Arab World Now), 11 February 2025.
- “Jordan: Deepening Authoritarianism,” 9/11 Legacies Project, September 2024.
- “Will Kuwait’s Next Parliament Be Its Last?” Online exclusive analysis, Journal of Democracy, March 2024.
- “Jordan’s Democratic Reform Déjà Vu: Lofty Promises, Little Progress,” Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), 9 September 2023.
- “Fighting Corruption in the Middle East: Recalibrating U.S. Foreign Policy,” Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), August 2023.
- “The Long Game: Saudi Arabia and Professional Golf,” Foreign Policy Research Institute, 21 June 2023.
- “Hegemony, Democracy, and the Legacy of the Iraq War,” Foreign Policy Research Institute, 30 March 2023.
- “The Everyday Politics of Authoritarian Rule in Jordan,” Middle East Report Online, 1 March 2023.
- “Democratic Reform in Jordan: Breaking the Impasse” (with Wael Al-Khatib), Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), 15 February 2022.
- “Middle East Drawdowns Prove American Priorities Have Changed,” National Interest, 18 August 2021.
- “America’s Misplaced Enchantment with Arab Monarchs,” Democracy in Exile, 14 May 2021. Translated to Arabic by DAWN.
- “Jordan Has Become a Banana Monarchy,” Foreign Policy, 15 April 2021.
- “It’s Time to Recalibrate US-Jordanian Relations,” Responsible Statecraft, 14 April 2021.
- “Dealing with Dictatorships: The Paradox of Great Power Support,” Siyasa: A Forum on Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics, 15 March 2021.
- “Kuwait’s Leader Has Died. The Rulers Are Now Fighting over Who Will Be Crown Prince,” Washington Post (Monkey Cage), 1 October 2020. (cited as one of top 10 Monkey Cage pieces for 2020)
- “The US is Ignoring the Growing Pandemic-Fueled Repression in the Middle East,” Responsible Statecraft, 17 August 2020.
- “Monarchism, Fear, and Aid: The Curious Case of Jordan,” Democracy and Autocracy: Newsletter of the Democracy and Autocracy Section of APSA, Vol. 18, No. 2 (2020): 14-19.
- “Youth Politics in the Middle East and North Africa” (with Marc Lynch and Wael al-Khatib), Youth Politics in the Middle East and North Africa, POMEPS Studies 36, Project on Middle East Political Science, November 2019.
- “Why Jordan’s Identity Can’t be Bought” (with Katrina Sammour), Washington Post (Monkey Cage), 24 June 2019.
- “Youth Revolts and Political Opposition in Jordan” (with Wael Al-Khatib), Washington Post (Monkey Cage), 20 December 2018.
- “The Politics of Youth Policymaking in Jordan” (with Wael al-Khatib), in Social Policy in the Middle East and North Africa, POMEPS Studies 31, Project on Middle East Political Science, October 2018.
- “Jordan’s Protests Are A Ritual, Not A Revolution,” Foreign Policy, 11 June 2018.
- “Jordan Struggles for Survival in Shadow of US-Israeli-Saudi Axis,” Middle East Eye, 1 June 2018. Translated to French and Arabic on Arabi21.com.
- “The Real Story with Ritula Shah: How Do Monarchies Survive?” BBC World Service Radio, 18 May 2018.
- “Islamists Are Losing Support in Jordan” (with Wael Al-Khatib), Washington Post (Monkey Cage), 17 May 2018.
- “Whatever Happened to the Arab League?” Al-Jazeera, 16 March 2018.
- “The Art of the Hedge: Jordan between Washington, Riyadh, and Doha,” Middle East Eye, 8 June 2017. Translated to French and Arabic on HuffPostArabi.
- “Counterterrorism and Youth Radicalization in Jordan: Social and Political Dimensions” (with Katrina Sammour), CTC Sentinel, Vol. 10: No. 4 (April 2017): 25-30. Translated to Arabic on AlAraby.co.uk.
- “Why Jordan and Morocco Are Doubling Down on Royal Rule,” Washington Post (Monkey Cage), 16 May 2017.
- “The Arab Gulf’s Mislaid Hopes in Trump,” Cairo Review of Global Affairs, 23 April 2017.
- “Jordan Held Elections; It Changed Little,” Middle East Eye, 5 November 2016.
- “Illusions of Change in Morocco,” Cairo Review of Global Affairs 23 (Fall 2016).
- “How a New Youth Movement Is Emerging in Jordan Ahead of Elections” (with Wael Al-Khatib), Washington Post (Monkey Cage), 14 September 2016.
- “Collaboration and Community amongst the Arab Monarchies,” in Transnational Diffusion and Cooperation in the Middle East, POMEPS Studies 21, August 2016.
- “The Social Terrain of Islamist Radicalization: Insights from Jordan” (with Katrina Sammour), Lawfare Blog, 21 August 2016.
- “Helping Hurts: Why Supporting Dictators Can Doom Them,” Foreign Affairs, 7 March 2016.
- “Durability before Democracy: Why Stability is Elusive in the Middle East,” The World Financial Review, January-February 2016, pp. 37-40.
- “Arab Civil Society after the Arab Spring: Weaker but Deeper,” Middle East and Asia Project Essay Series, Middle East Institute, October 2015.
- “The Risks of Military Escalation against Daesh,” Jordan Business (Amman), March 2015.
- “Inflating the Salafi Threat in Jordan” (with Wael Al-Khatib), MENA Source (Atlantic Council), 5 December 2014.
- “The Mirage of Economic Appeasement,” Jordan Business (Amman), October 2013.
- “Jordan in the Balance: Evaluating Regime Stability,” CTC Sentinel, Vol. 6: No. 1 (January 2013): 5-7.
- “Jordan’s New Politics of Tribal Dissent” (with Wael Al-Khatib), Foreign Policy, 7 August 2012.
- “The Survival of the Arab Monarchies,” Foreign Policy, 12 November 2012.
- “A Stable Instability Emerges in Jordan,” World Politics Review, 15 October 2012.
- “Reformation Politics,” Jordan Business (Amman), August 2012.
- “Understanding the Resilience of Monarchy during the Arab Spring,” Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Note, April 2012.
- “Jordan,” in Freedom House: Countries at the Crossroads 2012 (New York: Freedom House, 2012).
- “Jordan’s Fictional Reforms,” Foreign Policy, 9 November 2011.
- “Jordan Goes Morocco,” Foreign Policy, 19 August 2011.
- “Obama Must Draw Line in the Sand to Curb Regimes’ Coercion,” Democracy Digest, 18 May 2011.
- “Jordan’s Stubborn Regime Hangs in the Balance,” Foreign Policy, 31 March 2011.
- “Don’t Forget about Jordan: A Regime Caught between Contagion and Consent,” Foreign Policy, 2 February 2011.
- “Washington’s New Arms Bazaar,” Middle East Report, No. 246 (Spring 2008), pp. 22-31. Reprinted in Arabia Incognita: Dispatches from Yemen and the Gulf, ed. Sheila Carapico (Washington, DC: Just World Books, 2016), pp. 210-15.
- “The Dilemmas of American Democracy Promotion in the Arab World,” Yale Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 3: No. 1 (Winter 2008), pp. 131-145.
- “Turkey and the Middle East: Challenges, Choices, and Consequences,” Insight Turkey, Vol. 6: No. 1 (Winter 2004), pp. 18-24.
- “Power Politics in Central Asia: the Future of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Harvard Asia Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Autumn-Winter 2002), pp. 48-54.
- “The Two Worlds of Abu Sayyaf,” Foreign Policy in Focus, Aug. 2001.