2021 Conference Paper Presentations

Below is a list of papers that will be presented at the Fourteenth Annual ASMEA Conference. 

A Comprehensive Structural Typology for Terrorist Groups from Hierarchical to Territorial: Assessing Al Qaeda and the Islamic State’s Organizational Evolution
(Dr. Cindy L May, London School of Economics)

A New Center-Periphery Dynamic? COVID-19’s Effect on Fragile States’ Relationships with their Borderlands
(Dr. Lindsay Scorgie, Huron College, University of Western Ontario) 

A Populist Leader Under Neo-Liberal Logic: On the Leadership pattern of Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2019-2021 Elections
(Dr. Avi Shilon, New York University)

A Viciously Orchestrated Assault: Why Currency Manipulation Succeeded as a Form of Currency Warfare in the Suez War of 1956
(Dr. Ricardo A. Crespo, Grossmont College)

After Israel's Nationality Law of 2018: Is the "Blood Covenant" Broken for the Druze?
(Prof. William Miles, Northeastern University)

African Democracies and the Democratic Peace: Survey Experiments in Ghana and Nigeria
(Mr. Michael Yekple, University of Central Florida)

After Mediterraneanizing Competition: Can Turkish-Israel New Re-Normalization be possible?
(Prof. Visne Korkmaz, Nişantaşı University)

Algeria’s foreign military intervention capability: Lessons from the Middle East and Africa
(Mr. Oussama Bouraiou, Guelma University)

Angela Davis and Israel as the Queer Intersectional Outsider
(Prof. Corinne E Blackmer, Southern Connecticut State University)

Between Holy War and Symbiosis in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia’s Position Between Red Sea Sultanates and Mamluk Egypt (1270-1543)
(Dr. Andrew Kurt, Clayton State University)

Bypassing the Professionals: The Abraham Accords and the End of the Gulf Rift Crisis
(Dr. Edward Lynch, Hollins University)

China-GCC New Energy Cooperation in the New Era
(Dr. Xuming Qian, Shanghai International Studies University)

China's Middle East Challenge
(Dr. Wojtek Wolfe, Rutgers University)

Church and State in the Struggle for Economic Rights and Human Dignity in Central Africa at the End of Empire
(Dr. Charlotte Walker-Said, John Jay College of Criminal Justice-City University of New York [CUNY])

Conflict Here, Cooperation There: Explaining Russian-Turkish Relations
(Dr. Paul Kubicek, Oakland University)

Conflict, migration and refugees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Building human security platforms, local systems, and capacity to protect the vulnerable.
(Prof. Kenneth Christie, Royal Roads University)

Crossroads of Hatred - Western Anti-Semitic Themes in Iranian Propaganda
(Dr. Mark Silinksy, Haifa University) 

Culture-Bound Psychopathology or Supernatural Reality? A West African Case Study of Psychotherapeutic Strategies for Improving the Welfare of Patients in Spiritual Crisis
(Dr. Nathan P. Devir, University of Utah)

Democratic Culture and Support for Tunisian Democracy: A Cluster Analysis
(Dr. Hannah Ridge, University of Chicago)

Did the Pandemic Revive the “Facebook Revolution” in Morocco? Hybrid Spaces and Forms of Political Engagement After 2011
(Mrs. Eleonora Landucci, IMF-CSIC)

Do party women’s wings matter for gender representation? Lessons from Tanzania
(Dr. Consolata R. Sulley, University of Dar es Salaam)

Does Land Tenure Explain Majority-Minority Ethnic Conflict? Indigenous versus Immigrant Ethnic Conflict in Africa
(Ms. Kimberly L Shella, Southern Illinois University Carbondale)

Egypt After Covid-19: Economic and Social Impacts
(Prof. Sherin El Gendi, Ain Shams University)

Escaping Atonement in Sunni Islam: Death by Jihad for Deliverance
(Dr. Christine Rinehart, University of South Carolina)

Examining the interrelated secular and theological discourses that delegitimate Israel
(Dr. Carol Troen, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Dr. Ilan Troen, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Brandeis University)

Flexible Alliances in the Eastern Mediterranean: Elements of Escalation or Damage Control?
(Prof. Nursin Guney, Nişantaşı University)

Freedom of Expression in the Palestinian Authority: A Fading Illusion?
(Dr. Ido Zelkovitz, Yezreel Valley College)

From Iraq to the Casbah: Lessons from Regional Urban Operations
(Dr. Steven J Childs, California State University, San Bernardino)

From Oil Stain to Conventional War: France in the Rif Rebellion
(Dr. William T. Dean, U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College)

Gender Discrimination in the Capital Punishment System of Iran
(Dr. Sanaz Alasti, Lamar University)

Geostrategic Positioning of Turkey in Eurasia in the Twenty-first Century
(Dr. Ayla Gol, York St John University)

German Political Foundations and the Israeli–Palestinian peace process through promoting energy transition
(Mr. Jozsef Kadar, University of Haifa)

Gertrude Bell and Britain’s Moment in the Middle East: A Retrospect (Part 1)
(Dr. Liora Lukitz, Independent Scholar)

Global Turf War in Lebanon: Lebanese Elite and Contesting Geographic Visions during the 1958 Lebanon Crisis
(Mr. Taylan Paksoy, Bilkent University)

“God’s Righteous Allies” or “Apostate Unbelievers”? The Taliban in the Eyes of the Jihādīs
(Dr. Cole Bunzel, Hoover Institution, Stanford University)

Hastings Kamuzu Banda of Malawi: Post-Presidency Experiences, 1994-1997
(Dr. Paul Chiudza Banda, Tarleton State University)

Heroes of Iran: The Palestinian Islamic Jihad
(Dr. Shaul Bartal, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University)

Hidden in Plain Sight: Interest Group Lobbying under Nigeria’s Military and Civilian Regimes
(Mr. Oliver McPherson-Smith, University of Oxford)

Historizing Protest Movements in Nigeria: Continuities and Change
(Ms. Funmilola Olorunfemi University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)

History of the Druze in Egypt and Syria before the Mamluk era
(Dr. Daher Rashed, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest)

In the Shadow of Boko Haram: Why Emplacement Matters in the Study of African Mobilities
(Ms. Gbemisola Abiola, Harvard University)

Institutions and Foreign Direct Investment in the MENA Region
(Prof. Stephen Z. Onyeiwu, Allegheny College)

Iran's Soft War - The Islamic Republic's Propaganda Outlets and Think Tanks
(Dr. Mark Silinsky, Haifa University)

Is Iran truly capable of gathering the Shia Community under its Mantle?
(Mr. Eduardo Salgado, El Colegio de Mexico)

Islamism and Regime Transition in the Middle East and North Africa
(Dr. Miaad Hassan, University of Florida)

Israel Science, Technology, and Innovation Policies – A Blueprint for a Successful Future
(Prof. Alexander Bligh, Haifa University)

Jihad, Gas and Governance? The Insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
(Dr. Felipe Pathé Duarte, Nova School of Law)

Justice and Vilāyat in Post-Revolutionary Iranian Shīʿīsm
(Prof. Meir Litvak, Tel Aviv University)

Keeping a Geostrategic Influence East of the Suez Canal: France Policy in the Indian Ocean Area
(Prof. Jean D. Avenel, Université Paris 12)

Kemalist Enlightenment through Literature: Representations of Islam, Islamism, and Patriotism in Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s Green Night
(Dr. Kemal Silay, Indiana University and Dr. Betul Tarhan, University of Georgia) 

Learning the proxy: Hizballah's perception of the Southern Lebanon Army (SLA) during the 1990's
(Dr. Netanel Flamer, Bar-Ilan University)

“Let It Be Known that the Feminist Coven Did That”: Nigerian Women’s Activism and Coalition Against Police Brutality During the 2020 #EndSARS Protests
(Dr. Bright Alozie, Portland State University)

“Let My Soul Die Together”: Existential Emotions in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
(Prof. Uriel Abulof, Cornell University, Tel Aviv University)

Libyan-Turkish Memorandum on EEZ Delimitation in Eastern Mediterranean and its Perception in Greek Foreign Policy
(Dr. Zuhal Mert Uzuner, Marmara University)

Martyrdom and Inventing a new Womanhood in the Iran-Iraq War
(Mr. Amin Sophiamehr, Indiana University)

Metropolitan Battlefields: The Weaponization of Governance in Baghdad
(Dr. Dan Bisbee, University of Pittsburgh)

Minorities in Turkey: The Unwanted Citizens
(Dr. Amal Cavender, George Washington University)

Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change in Dryland Environments: Lessons from Central Zimbabwe, 1992-2008
(Mr. Passmore Chishaka, Kent State University)

Multilateral Growing Pains: Transitions and Tensions in U.S.-Turkey Relations
(Ms. Megan E. Gisclon, Istanbul Policy Center, Sabanci University)

NGO Reinforcement of Europe's Policies on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 1980-2020
(Prof. Gerald Steinberg, Bar-Ilan University)

Normalization with Israel: An Analysis of Social Networks Discourse Within Gulf States
(Dr. Gadi Hitman, Ariel University)

Ontological Security Theory and the echoes of former empires: mnemonic mining in Turkey and Russia
(Dr. Stavros Drakoularakos, University of the Peloponnese)

Ontological (In)Security of Hizbullah during the Syrian Crisis
(Ms. Zakia Aqra, University of the Peloponnese)

Opposition Strategies towards Populism in Turkey: Social Media as an Alternative in 2018 Election?
(Dr. Dilara Hekimci, Florida International University)

Orientalism Triumphant: The Birth of Y2K Mind and the Caliphate’s Cognitive War Victory of 2000
(Prof. Richard Landes, Bar-Ilan University)

Perspectives and Attitudes of Syrian-Kurdish Refugees in Germany on The Middle East
(Dr. Gunther Jikeli, Indiana University)

Principle and Prudence: An Analysis of the United States' Interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq
(Prof. Christopher Lynch, Carthage College)

Rainfall as an Instrument? Revisiting Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Changwook Ju, Yale University)

Red Shi'ism
(Mr. Steven Kitchell, Independent Scholar)

Religious Ideology or Clientelism? Explaining Voter Preferences in Tunisia's Transitional Elections
(Dr. Lindsay J. Benstead, Portland State University)

Religious Minorities in Diaspora: A Study of the Political Mobilization of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Community in Canada and the United States
(Mrs. Lilian EK Estafanous, Queen's University)

Rethinking the tribal voices in Jordan: its role in the national politics, the local community, and social movements
(Dr. Takuro Kikkawa, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)

Revising the Montreux Convention: A Key to the Geopolitics of the Black Sea
(Mr. Kivanc Ulusoy, Istanbul University)

Sanctions again? An assessment of Iranian hydrocarbon export opportunities under the latest sanctions regime
(Mr. Tamás Dudlák, Corvinus University of Budapest, University of Pécs)

Security Force Assistance at the Periphery: Examining Legitimacy and Public Cooperation With Regional Militarized Actors
(Dr. Daisy Muibu, University of Alabama)

Shi'a Community of Georgia: An Historical Overview and Modern Realities
(Prof. George Sanikidze, Ilia State University)

Social Justice and Greimas’s Semiotic Square: Women in Prison in Salwa Bakr’s The Golden Chariot
(Dr. Dina Hassan, The University of Oklahoma)

Sport Diplomacy in African History: Kenya, Apartheid South Africa, and the Politics of Sport of the Early 1980s
(Dr. Michelle Marie Sikes, Penn State University)

State-Building and Borderlands: Control of the Turkish State on an Everyday Level
(Dr. Dilan Okcuoglu, American University)

State petty corruption and lack of social accountability: other forms and configurations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
(Prof. Patrick Milabyo Kyamusugulwa, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)

Strategic Partners? Britain’s Relations with Turkey, 1945–2018
(Dr. Simon Adam Waldman, King's College London)

Süleyman’s “Magnificent” Navy During the Later Italian Wars (mid-sixteenth century)
Dr. (Andrew Tzavaras, High Point University)

Ten Years of Arab Spring: The Aftermath
(Prof. Teresa de Almeida e Silva, University of Lisbon)

The Antisemitic Foundation of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Revolutionary Ideology
(Dr. Jessica Emami, Marymount University)

The Cipher of the Arab Revolt
(Prof. Eliezer Tauber, Bar-Ilan University)

The Civilian's Dilemma: How Religious and Ethnic Minorities Survived the Islamic State Occupation of Northern Iraq
(Prof. Austin James Knuppe, Utah State University)

The Fatah-Hamas Rift: An Analysis of Failed Negotiations
(Dr. Gadi Hitman, Ariel University)

The Gassing of Iraqi Kurds
(Dr. David Palkki, Air War College)

The Ideological and Transactional Foundations of the Iran and North Korean Strategic Alliance
(Dr. Anthony Celso, Angelo State University)

The Impact of Democracy on Human Development in Africa
(Dr. Yacouba Gnegne, National Defense College, Abu Dhabi)

The Islamic Republic of Iran through Russia's Eyes: From Brezhnev to Putin
(Dr. Denis V. Volkov, HSE University, Moscow)

The Israeli Art of Reducing Enemy Military capacity: the changing Importance of a Novel strategy in the larger security doctrine
(Dr. Or Honig, Tokyo International University)

The Making of TRT Cinematic Universe: State Media and Political Communication in Turkey
(Dr. Ioannis N. Grigoriadis, Bilkent University)

The Middle East Riddle: A Study of the Peace Process and Israeli/Arab Relations in Changing Times
(Dr. Luis Eduardo Fleischman, Palm Beach Center for Democracy and Policy Research)

The Mujahedin-e Khalq and the National Council of Resistance of Iran
(COL Wes Martin, U.S. Army [Retired])

The Mediocrity Colonization Project:  A Look at Merit Dilution of our Once Great Universities
(Dr. Michael Lissack, Tongji University)

The Past is a Foreign Country: Unorthodox Minorities and the Middle Eastern State
Prof. Nergis Canefe, York University)

‘The People have multiplied’, the narrative has multiplied: A Matn-cum-isnād analysis of the Bajīlah’s ‘fourth’
(Dr. D Gershon Lewental, Shalem College)

The Sermons of Al Aqsa Mosque
(Prof. Joseph Spoerl, Saint Anselm College)

The Strategic, Ideological. Military and Transactional Foundations of the Iran and North Korea “Rogue Alliance”: The North Korean Challenge
(Prof. Bruce Bechtol, Angelo State University)

The Struggle for the Middle East - the United States and Russia in the Shadow of the "Arab Spring Revolutions"
(Prof. Eyal Zisser, Tel Aviv University)

The Sufism of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: From Mystical Poetry to Judicial Authority
(Mr. Alexander Morse Shepard, Indiana University, Bloomington)

The U.S. State Department vs. Zionist Aspirations, 1947-1948
(Prof. Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland, College Park)

The Use of Facebook for Political Campaigns In Africa—The Case Of Uganda
(Ms. Barbara Bashabe, University of Massachusetts – Lowell)

The War of Famine and the Starvation of Ottoman Mount-Lebanon
(Dr. Franck Salameh, Boston College)

Turkey’s New Diaspora-Making Policy and Alevis in Europe
(Dr. Besim Can Zirh, Middle East Technical University)

Understanding Islam between Theology and Anthropology: Reflexions on Geertz’s Islam Observed
(Dr. Mustapha Tajdin, Khalifa University for Science and Technology)

‘Voices on the Margin’: Rethinking Industrial Development in Postcolonial Malawi
(Dr. Gift Wasambo Kayira, University of Malawi)

War, Patronage, and the Political Economy of the Uganda People's Defense Force Engagements in the Great Lakes Region of Africa
(Dr. Curthberth A. Onek, Millersville University)

Was the 1982 War a Deviation from the Israeli Security Doctrine?
(Dr. Dan Naor, Ariel University)

Women, Marriage, and the Church in Twentieth-Century Zimbabwe
(Dr. Aldrin T. Magaya, DePauw University)