Professional Bio

I am a lecturer in political science at Sciences Po Paris and a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point.

I am also an Associate Research Fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and a member of the Ambassador Council of the International Crisis Group.

I have a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne and a Master's from Harvard, and my publications include a book on the war in Syria (University of Texas Press, 2025). I also published articles in Survival, Small Wars & Insurgencies, Middle East Policy, Asian Affairs, and World Policy Journal, as well as analyses and opinion pieces in the Modern War Institute at West Point, The Conversation, the LSE Middle East Centre, ISPI, and The Guardian.

In my role at ISPI, I moreover produce quarterly reports on Libya to inform the Italian Parliament and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My research is grounded in extensive fieldwork, including in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kurdistan, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. In Cairo, I was the Politics Editor of Daily News Egypt, at the time one of the last independent newspapers in Egypt. During the course of my fieldwork, I also lived for extended periods in Beirut and Kabul.

Latest publications at a glance (selection):

Books

1. War in Syria and the Middle East: A Political and Economic History

University of Texas Press, 2025.

Articles

1. State Capture by Militias, Paramilitaries, and Organized Crime

Small Wars & Insurgencies, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2025.

2. Russia's State Capture Strategy in Africa, from Wagner to the Africa Corps

Small Wars & Insurgencies, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2025.

3. When Militias Capture the State: Evidence from Lebanon, Iraq, and Sudan

Small Wars & Insurgencies, Vol. 35, No. 1, 2024.

4. Can Sudan's Democratic Transition be Salvaged?