At Cornell University, I teach courses on labor politics and social and protest movements.

Labor and Employment in the Middle East and North Africa (advanced undergraduates/M.A. students)

This course introduces students to the history, evolution and trajectory of state-labor relations, labor activism, and the politics of unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As the region with the highest concentration of non-democratic regimes in the world, the MENA provides a rich context for examining state efforts to control interest representation, and workers' struggles for freedom of association. In addition, the region features diverse political economic systems, making it ideal for examining the interaction between resource endowments and labor market dynamics. Finally, the region is ripe for the study of youth activism and the mobilization of the unemployed given that youth unemployment rates are higher in the MENA than any other world region. This course begins with an overview of the emergence of the modern state system in the MENA and the legacies of European colonialism. It then offers students a broad overview of the diverse political economies of the region and their implications for state-labor relations, labor markets, and migration. The rest of the course is organized thematically, engaging with topics, such as labor organizations, precarious work, unemployment and labor activism.

People Power: Resistance, Protest, and Revolution (sophomore writing course)

The Arab uprisings of 2010/2011 brought renewed attention to the power of ordinary citizens to collectively overthrow their governments. This course introduces students to theories of collective action, resistance, protest, and revolutions. It addresses the following questions: How do aggrieved citizens make claims against their governments, especially in non-democratic contexts? When and why do people act collectively to make those claims? How do governments respond to various forms of protest? What constitutes a revolution? Why do some succeed and others fail? This course is organized into three sections. The first introduces students to theories and approaches in the study of collective action and social movements. The second moves to a discussion of various forms of resistance and collective action. The third section covers debates around defining revolutions, explores different types of revolutions, theories about the causes of revolutions, and the factors that contribute to their success or failure.