Maxwell School News and Commentary

“The U.S. has always been promoting and setting up this entire thing,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “It’s not like the Americans are passive in this. We have absolutely helped sow the seeds for that Saudi agricultural industry that has come back to us now.”

"Despite brutal repression, protests in Iran continue. The ruling clergy can no longer rally the "masses" behind them, as they have successfully done since the 18th century." University Professor Hamid Ekbia examines the perspectives and dangers of the present revolution in Iran.

"Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt Beyond" (Oxford University Press, 2020), written by Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs Catherine Herrold, was reviewed in Democratization.

In her recently published book, “Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia” (Verso, 2023), Maxwell School faculty member Natalie Koch explores the exchange of colonial technologies between the Arabian Peninsula and the United States over the last two centuries. 

“Pumping groundwater in Arizona remains largely unregulated,” writes Natalie Koch, professor of geography. “It’s this legal failing that, in part, allows the Saudi company to draw unlimited amounts of water to grow an alfalfa crop that feeds dairy cows 8,000 miles away.”

Catherine Herrold, associate professor of public administration and international affairs, was a guest on the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) podcast and discussed her recent study, "Curating Sovereignty in Palestine: Voluntary Grassroots Organizations and Civil Society in the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history, tells USA Today the meeting between the leaders could have an impact on the United States' efforts to garner more support for Ukraine.

"Conjunctions of Islam: rethinking the geographies of art and piety through the notebooks of Ahmet Süheyl Ünver," authored by Assistant Professor Timur Hammond, was published in Cultural Geographies.

Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history, spoke to USA Today about President Biden's Middle East trip and politics in the region.

"Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt Beyond" (Oxford University Press, 2020), written by Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs Catherine Herrold, was reviewed in Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations.