PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES
ISRAELI-IRANIAN RELATIONS: PAST FRIENDSHIP, CURRENT HOSTILITY
18 February 2022
Israel Affairs
With decades of multilayered close cooperation transformed into outright hostility, Iran and Israel have been trying to strengthen their strategic posture vis-à-vis each other: Israel by attacking Iranian-related targets in Syria and befriending Arab countries; Iran by supporting armed militias and terror organisations and pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. While neither state seems interested in military confrontation, miscalculations can never be fully excluded.
REBEL GOVERNANCE AT THE TIME OF COVID-19: EMERGENCIES AS OPPORTUNITIES FOR REBEL RULERS
3 September 2020
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
As Covid-19 has spread worldwide, not only governments but also rebel rulers have had to face the crisis. Therefore, it is important to understand whether exogenous shocks pose to rebel rulers the same challenges they pose to governments. To answer this question, I will refer to the academic literature and I will study two insurgent groups that have been confronted by coronavirus – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Taliban. Following the case studies, I will argue that while emergencies pose great challenges to governments, they provide rebel rulers with an opportunity to project themselves as more credible and legitimate rulers.
UNDERSTANDING GOVERNANCE BY INSURGENT NON-STATE ACTORS: A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL TYPOLOGY
24 June 2020
Civil Wars, Vol.22, No.4
The phenomenon of governance by insurgents characterises many contexts of civil war and influences political, security, social, and economic dynamics in the original conflict zone and beyond. Therefore, understanding how different insurgents govern seems of crucial importance. However, in the existing literature no typology has been advanced that captures the multiple dimensions of rebel governance and allows to develop detailed and comparable assessments of the different patterns of rule implemented by different rebels. Considering this gap a limit to the study of insurgent governance, the present paper aims to propose a multi-dimensional typology for investigating how rebels govern.
ISRAELI-SAUDI RELATIONS IN A CHANGED AND CHANGING MIDDLE EAST: GROWING COOPERATION?
10 October 2019
Israeli Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol.13, No.2
In the years since the so-called Arab Spring, the geopolitical and geostrategic map of the Middle East has witnessed dramatic changes. Against the backdrop of these developments, many regional powers have reconsidered their traditional policies and relations in the region. An especially interesting case is that of Israel and Saudi Arabia: Since the Arab Spring, the coordination and cooperation between Jerusalem and Riyadh have both expanded and deepened. With this observation as our point of departure, we shall investigate how new shared interests and concerns have brought about opportunities for cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia. At the same time, we will investigate the extent to which Israel’s ongoing conflict with the Palestinians might continue to obstruct the emergence of fully normalized bilateral relations. In order to do so, we shall examine statements by Israeli and Saudi officials and non-official reports.
BOOK CHAPTERS
QUANDO I TERRORISTI GOVERNANO
2020
In: D. Fiammenghi (ed.), L'Evoluzione del Terrorismo Islamico (Novi Ligure: Epoké)
POLICY PAPERS
CHALLENGES POSED BY RETURNING FOREIGN FIGHTERS
March 2020
Co-authored with Adam Hoffman.
Program on Extremism at Geprge Washington University
THE EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM
6 March, 2020
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Syria/Iraq Office
STABILIZING AFGHANISTAN: THE NEED OF A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH
January 2018
INSS Strategic Assessment, Vol.20, No.4
ARTICLES
THE US DESIGNATES YEMEN'S HOUTHIS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
19 January 2021
Political Violence at a Glance
UPCOMING
REBEL GOVERNANCE DURING COVID-19: HOW AND WHY ARMED GROUPS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ADDRESSED THE PANDEMIC
Upcoming 2022
Paper written for United Nations University UNU-Wider's "Institutional Legacies of Violent Conflict"