I’m always keen to connect with colleagues working on these themes, so please reach out if you’ll be in Canterbury or if our interests overlap. 🌍📚

Beyond this paper, my broader research engages with several intersecting areas: early warning systems, rebel governance and post-conflict political orders, the trajectories of rebel-to-party transitions, and the politics of the Kurdish question and Sri Lanka.

Heading to Canterbury for the 2025 Conflict Research Society Conference #CRS2025

I’ll be presenting in the panel “Sustaining Conflict: Conflict Recurrence and Protracted Wars.” on the Gaza genocide and the limitations of predictive systems in protracted conflicts.

The paradox of Syria's new peace Analyses of Syria's new government focus on sectarianism. But this obscures the logic behind its dual policy of co-optation and brutality. Andrea Novellis has developed a new framework to explain this...

Focus on the new #Syrian govt's sectarianism risks overlooking its dual policy of co-optation & brutality. Here for The Loop I suggest a new framework to explain how the logic of post-conflict consolidation drives this seemingly contradictory approach.👇

theloop.ecpr.eu/the-paradox-...

Apologies, the correct link is: siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/pa...

We’re very grateful to the authors for their contributions and collaboration.
And we hope this issue adds something of value to ongoing debates in Kurdish studies, Middle Eastern politics, and radical political thought.
All pieces are fully open access: siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/pa...

📌 Davide Grasso on Öcalan & Bookchin, hierarchy and communalism
📌 Bernardo Paci on democratic confederalism and historical ontology
📌 Federica Giardini on transfeminist encounters with Kurdish thought
📌 Massoud Sharifi on Kurdish activism—streets, ballots, bullets

The articles include:

📌 Mauro Primavera on Ba'thist approaches to the Kurds in Syria
📌 Angelika Pobedonostseva & Siarhei Bohdan on Arab–Kurdish Cold War alliances
📌 Tuncer Beyribey on AKP counter-terrorism discourse post-2015

It opens with our Introduction, where we reflect on power, ideology, and strategy in the Kurdish movement across time and space. We hope it offers a useful framework to think about Kurdish struggles in their plurality.

The issue was co-edited by myself and Davide Grasso (@GrassoDavide), and brings together a wide range of perspectives on Kurdish politics—from state repression to grassroots democracy, from Cold War alliances to radical theory and gender politics.

📢 Excited to announce the publication of our Special Issue:
“Exploring the Kurdish Movement: Power Relations, Historical Dynamics & Theoretical Perspectives”
Now out in Partecipazione e Conflitto (Q2, vol. 18, no. 2)
🔓 Open access: siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/pa...
🧵Thread 👇

Welcome: Leo Bauer, Imrana Alhaji Buba, @edoardocorradi.bsky.social , @vbouemardinocheau.bsky.social l, Promise Frank Ejiofar, @fortierjacob.bsky.social , Nguyen T Ha, @kyawhsanhlaing.com , Dr Camille Laville, Tony Neil, @andreanovellis.bsky.social , Dr Hogr O Tarkhani, Favell Williamlich / end

We are pleased to announce the 2025-2026 cohort of @civilwarpaths.bsky.social Fellows - Welcome!
This year's Fellows bring with them wide ranging empirical and conceptual expertise on armed conflict and organisations, spanning from the Middle East, West Africa, to Southeast Europe / 1

📅 Deadline: 25 May 2025
📍 SISP Annual Conference, Naples, 4–6 Sept
🖊️ Submit here: sisp.it/en/conferenc...
👥 Chairs: Nicola degli Esposti (Padua) Andrea Novellis (Naples L’Orientale)

Please share with colleagues working on Middle East politics, conflict, or identity

🔹 Panel 13.6 — Beyond Sectarianism: Regional Politics and Conflict Realignments in the Middle East
sisp.it/convegno2025...
For two decades, Sunni–Shia rivalry structured most analyses of Middle East conflicts.
But this frame does not explain current dynamics

Is sectarianism still the masterframe for understanding Middle Eastern politics—or has the region already moved beyond it?
We're convening a panel at #SISP2025 (Naples, 4–6 Sept) to rethink conflict, identity, and regional order.

📝 Submit by 25 May.

Details in thread ⬇️

📅 Deadline: 25 May 2025
📍 SISP Annual Conference, Naples, 4–6 Sept
🖊️ Submit here: sisp.it/en/conferenc...
👥 Chairs: Nicola degli Esposti (Padua) Andrea Novellis (Naples L’Orientale)

Please share with colleagues working on Middle East politics, conflict, or identity

🔹 Panel 13.6 — Beyond Sectarianism: Regional Politics and Conflict Realignments in the Middle East
sisp.it/convegno2025...
For two decades, Sunni–Shia rivalry structured most analyses of Middle East conflicts.
But this frame does not explain current dynamics

Is sectarianism still the masterframe for understanding Middle Eastern politics—or has the region already moved beyond it?
We're convening a panel at #SISP2025 (Naples, 4–6 Sept) to rethink conflict, identity, and regional order.

📝 Submit by 25 May.

Details in thread ⬇️

Reminder for researchers and practitioners working on risk, early warning systems, and conflict in South and Southeast Asia! The call for papers deadline for the Colombo workshop (June 25-26, 2025) is fast approaching. Share your insights and contribute to this vital discussion

--> A workshop organized by: University of Naples - L'Orientale, Institute for South Asian Studies - National University of Singapore, Open University of Sri Lanka

Colombo workshop CFP Call for Papers Risk, Agency, and the Politics of Warning: Early Warning Systems, International Actors, and Crises in South and Southeast Asia Location: Open University of Sri Lanka, Colombo Workshop ...

-->

📅 Abstracts due: 30 April
🌍 In-person & online options
📩 Info: colomboews@gmail.com

Cfp: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

#SriLanka #SouthAsia #SoutheastAsia #PoliticalRisk #ConflictPrevention #EarlyWarning

-->

📢 CfP – Colombo, June 25–26, 2025
Risk, Agency, and the Politics of Warning

A workshop on early warning systems, crisis forecasting & the politics of prevention in South & Southeast Asia.

🔎Themes: political violence, local/international responses, forecasting tools, regional case studies. -->

--> A workshop organized by: University of Naples - L'Orientale, Institute for South Asian Studies - National University of Singapore, Open University of Sri Lanka

Colombo workshop CFP Call for Papers Risk, Agency, and the Politics of Warning: Early Warning Systems, International Actors, and Crises in South and Southeast Asia Location: Open University of Sri Lanka, Colombo Workshop ...

-->

📅 Abstracts due: 30 April
🌍 In-person & online options
📩 Info: colomboews@gmail.com

Cfp: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

#SriLanka #SouthAsia #SoutheastAsia #PoliticalRisk #ConflictPrevention #EarlyWarning

-->

📢 CfP – Colombo, June 25–26, 2025
Risk, Agency, and the Politics of Warning

A workshop on early warning systems, crisis forecasting & the politics of prevention in South & Southeast Asia.

🔎Themes: political violence, local/international responses, forecasting tools, regional case studies. -->

That is, the PKK confirms it's ready for a new peace process. Unclear though how will Turkey build trust during the process considering its increasingly heavy crackdown on the Kurdish party DEM-run municipalities and the unprecedented targeting of those CHP municipalities elected with Kurdish votes

🚨 Don’t miss your chance to present at the CRS Annual Conference 2025!

📍 Location: University of Kent
🗓️ Dates: 17-19 September 2025
🖋️ Deadline: Submit abstracts by 31 January 2025

Take part in shaping the future of peace and conflict research!

HFG Emerging Scholars - HFG The Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Awards recognize promising researchers in their final year of writing a doctoral dissertation examining a salient aspect of violence.

Are you a PhD candidate studying political violence? Consider applying for the HFG Emerging Scholar award. $25k toward finishing up your diss. Deadline: 1 Feb.

Details/Apply: www.hfg.org/emerging-sch...