Rana B. Khoury
assistant prof of political science at Illinois researching wartime activism, displacement, humanitarianism, and all things Syria. mama to the greatest first grader. www.ranakhoury.com
- Alex de Waal: "They could have stated the matter more simply. Mass death through starvation is the certain outcome of Israel’s continued blockade and ongoing military campaign. The only question is when." www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ma...
- Reposted by Rana B. KhouryIncredible 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
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- Reposted by Rana B. KhouryThe 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.
- Donald Trump has committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era. Almost everything he said—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded econ.st/3YbbFjq
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- 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."
- This is how Jeffrey Goldberg responded when Deepa Fernandes asked him on NPR about the 53 people the US killed in Yemen. www.npr.org/2025/03/26/1...
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- 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
- Reposted by Rana B. KhouryNEWS: 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
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- Political change in Syria began in 2011. We look back at the uprising to recover the assets it can bring to Syria today.
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- "Every international and Syrian aid group The New Humanitarian spoke to...listed projects that were stopping or about to stop, including food and voucher distributions, winter clothing for children, hygiene supplies, and water and sewage services in camps." www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature...
- "Finally, when we replicate work linking refugees to inter- and intrastate conflict, our findings do not substantiate Salehyan and Gleditsch’s (2006) seminal research associating refugees to civil war diffusion..." New in APSR: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
- A pithy summary of the evidence-based arguments for foreign aid by my colleague Matt Winters goodauthority.org/news/ending-...
- I buy that aid serves national interests, including security. (US adversaries, state and non-state, must be over the moon.) I also cringe that, in its self-defense, aid is renouncing its charitable role.
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- Seeing Syrian orgs for transitional justice, media independence, etc. make layoffs/cutbacks because of USAID. They've been through the hell of repression & war. The moment has finally arrived for a positive political transition, and it is our own destructive unelected leader that risks dooming it.
- Reposted by Rana B. KhouryToday I was laid off from my job. I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve at SJAC. I’m so sorry & sad (angry) not being able to continue to support the Human Rights & Transitional Justice efforts in Syria in a such critical time. I am hopeful to find an opportunity to continue my work.
- The US #ForeignAidFreeze has significantly impacted SJAC's operations We are urgently asking our supporters to donate what they can to support our teams in #Syria & around the world Your donations will be critical for SJAC during this period www.paypal.com/donate/?host...
- Reposted by Rana B. KhouryVery excited for this discussion on prospects for peace & justice in post-Assad Syria at Duke on Feb. 11 with 3 of my favorite experts on human rights, humanitarian aid, civil society & justice, @rbkhoury.bsky.social @imad-alhajj21.bsky.social & Sara Kayyali, co-moderated with Adam Mestyan:
- So looking forward to being part of, and learning from, this important conversation on Syria!
- Very excited for this discussion on prospects for peace & justice in post-Assad Syria at Duke on Feb. 11 with 3 of my favorite experts on human rights, humanitarian aid, civil society & justice, @rbkhoury.bsky.social @imad-alhajj21.bsky.social & Sara Kayyali, co-moderated with Adam Mestyan:
- Can MENA folks help me recall scholarship on accents in the Arab world? I'm thinking of work on Palestinians in Jordan, as well as the Lebanese civil war, wherein accents tell of belonging.... I'm sure I haven't described the work well, but thanks for leads!
- On Sharaa assuming the presidency ("transitional") yesterday, Syria faces two imperatives. 1) For stability, bringing armed factions together to lay down arms, unify under national umbrella is critical (a state needs a monopoly on the use of violence). Sharaa alone has legitimacy for this.
- My book has a pub date 🥹
- "If I had a ledger and I was comparing reasons to be pessimistic versus reasons to be optimistic, I think the pessimistic side would be far longer. But I want to give credence to the optimistic side, where I nevertheless find myself."
- In response to some recent discourse on here, I surveyed my undergrads from the fall about use of AI. It's a writing intensive lecture on contentious politics, w/ short essays due every 2 weeks applying course material to a social movement they've chosen to study for the semester 🧵
- A deep, devastating attempt to navigate and overcome the narratives that divide Syria(ns) and which force unbearable tradeoffs. Yazan penned this beautiful and prescient reflection even before Asad's fall (and updated accordingly).
- The price of bananas has, since at least the 1980s, been a popular indicator of the state of the Syrian economy. If you mowz, you knowz.
- Reposted by Rana B. KhourySuper excited to share Postdoc in Palestinian Studies at Yale posting. SPREAD THE WORD WIDELY "Research emphasis on the history, society, politics, language, culture, and/or other dimensions of Palestinian Studies and the broader study of the Middle East." #Menasky apply.interfolio.com/161627
- Reposted by Rana B. KhouryICYMI: Excellent and timely analysis of patterns of nonviolent civil organizing in Syria by @rbkhoury.bsky.social & @aasiegel.bsky.social for @goodauth.bsky.social summarizing their important new article in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @apsamena.bsky.social
- Thrilled to share this @goodauth.bsky.social analysis, and sneak peak of forthcoming research, with @aasiegel.bsky.social at such an incredible time for Syria. Activists, inside and outside the country, have been working for their cause and communities throughout a brutal war. 1/2
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[Not loaded yet] - Turkey is now allowing one family member to visit and return, three times over a six month period. This is good policy 👏
