Ora Szekely

Associate Professor, Political Science

Ora Szekely’s research focuses on the foreign and domestic policies of nonstate armed groups in the Middle East, as well as the gendered dimensions of civil war. Her work is based on field research conducted across the region. Her most recent book, Syria Divided: Patterns of Violence in a Complex Civil War (Columbia University Press, 2023) explores the relationship between conflict narratives and performative violence in the Syrian civil war. She teaches courses on the comparative politics of the Middle East along with courses on identity politics and political violence. She is also affiliated with the programs in Peace and Conflict Studies and Women and Gender Studies.

Degrees

  • Ph.D. in Political Science, McGill University, 2011
  • M.A. in Social Sciences, University of Chicago, 2004

Scholarly and creative works

  • Book

    Syria Divided: Patterns of Violence in a Complex Civil War

    2023
    ISBN #9780231205399
    New York, NY
    Ora Szekely
  • Other Scholarly or Creative Work

    The Stories from the Field Podcast, Co-Host

    Ora Szekely, Peter Krause
  • Book

    Stories from the Field: A Guide to Navigating Fieldwork in Political Science

    2020
    Ora Szekely, Peter Krause
  • Book

    Insurget Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars

    2019
    Ora Szekely, Jessica Trisko Darden, Alexis Henshaw
  • Book

    The Politics of Militant Group Survival in the Middle East: Resources, Relationships, and Resistance

    2017
    Ora Szekely
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    Gender Ideologies and Forms of Contentious Mobilization in the Middle East

    Published in Journal of Peace Research
    2013
    Vol. 40
    Issue #3
    Ora Szekely, Victor Asal, Richard Legault, Jonathan Wilkenfeld