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Mara Revkin

@mararevkin.bsky.social

8.5K followers 1.3K following 110 posts

Associate Professor of Law & Political Science @Duke. Conflict, migration, peacebuilding, transitional justice & humanitarian/development aid. Nonresident @carnegiedcg.bsky.social. Rhymes w/ @jonpetkun.bsky.social. Web: https://law.duke.edu/fac/revkin

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Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · 24d

ICYMI in a very bad news week: On 9/9, Israel ordered a complete evacuation of Gaza City; aside from clear violations of international law, this powerful visual story @josh-h.bsky.social shows how residents have nowhere to go: www.nytimes.com/interactive/... See also: www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 25

Intentional starvation of civilians as a method of war is always a war crime. Non-reciprocity of international humanitarian law means that no amount of alleged aid diversion by Hamas could ever justify this. Horrifying but necessary reading, see also: www.btselem.org/sites/defaul... (1+ year ago)

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Cecilia Cavero-Sanchez @ccaveros.bsky.social · Jul 18

We're announcing our Fall 2025 call for applications! Deadline to apply is August 14, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Junior Scholars in Quantitative Conflict Workshop @jqconworkshop.bsky.social · Jul 18

📢 CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | Junior Scholars in Quantitative Conflict Workshop Fall 2025
PhD students, postdocs & junior faculty: Present your research/practice job talk!
🗓️ Virtual: 1st & 3rd Thursdays, 1pm ET
📝 Deadline: Aug 14

Application below:

#PoliSci #polisky #JobMarket #ConflictStudies

Junior Scholars in Quantitative Conflict Workshop Submission

We are now accepting submissions for the Fall 2025 sessions of the Junior Scholars in Quantitative Conflict Workshop! This virtual workshop provides a supportive space for junior scholars (PhD candida...

iu.co1.qualtrics.com

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

🚨FYI Search Committees!
The extraordinarily talented and kind @benckrick.bsky.social will be on the political science job market soon-ish and some lucky department should hire him while you still can!

Benjamin Krick @benckrick.bsky.social · Jul 10

Our article on civilian harm and military legitimacy is now available at @iojournal.bsky.social. We believe it has timely implications for events playing out now in the Middle East and beyond.

From North Carolina to Northern Iraq, working with Jon and Mara has been a truly rewarding experience!

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

Excited to share a new open-access article with @benckrick.bsky.social @jonpetkun.bsky.social in @iojournal.bsky.social, "Civilian Harm & Military Legitimacy" www.cambridge.org/core/journal.... This project started in 2018 Mosul, Iraq’s 2nd largest city, in the aftermath of a 9-month battle … 1/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

We are grateful to the many Iraqis who shared their experiences with us and hope these findings will encourage more research on cumulative & reverberating effects of war on society, environment & cultural heritage that are not captured in casualty counts or other conventional measures of damage. 7/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

Our key finding is that these effects persists even after conditioning on personal exposure to harm, suggesting that civilian attitudes toward combatants are driven not only by direct victimization (which is already well-established), but also by *how* and *why* combatants caused these harms. 6/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

... to show that a "bundle" of changes in strategy, tactics, rules of engagement & composition of ground forces—which reflected less concern for protection of civilians in West Mosul—was associated with higher levels of destruction and more negative perceptions of the legitimacy of Iraqi forces. 5/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

East Mosul would be taken first, followed by West Mosul. This decision shaped the pattern of violence that followed & its devastating effects on the civilian population. We use survey, interview, & satellite data collected through multiple rounds of careful field research between 2018 & 2023 ... 4/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

suffered much more civilian harm than East Mosul. Why? The battle plan developed by Iraqi forces & the U.S.-led Coalition to recapture Mosul after 3 years of ISIL’s harsh rule was constrained by a geographical feature: the Tigris River, which divides the city & necessitated a 2-phased approach: 3/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

... described at the time as one of the most destructive since WWII (now tragically surpassed by Gaza). I was in Iraq for this research with @iom.int on displacement (iraq.iom.int/sites/g/file...) & everyone working on the humanitarian response was aware of a clear pattern: West Mosul had ... 2/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jul 10

Excited to share a new open-access article with @benckrick.bsky.social @jonpetkun.bsky.social in @iojournal.bsky.social, "Civilian Harm & Military Legitimacy" www.cambridge.org/core/journal.... This project started in 2018 Mosul, Iraq’s 2nd largest city, in the aftermath of a 9-month battle … 1/7

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Jun 30

Grateful for the opportunity to write with @oonahathaway.bsky.social & @azmatzahra.bsky.social + work with @yalelawjournal.bsky.social on "The Dangerous Rise of 'Dual-Use' Objects in War": www.yalelawjournal.org/article/the-.... More on data & methods here: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Oona Hathaway @oonahathaway.bsky.social · Jun 30

It's out!

The Dangerous Rise of "Dual-Use" Objects in War

Coauthored with @mararevkin.bsky.social and @azmatzahra.bsky.social.

We show that the targeting of dual-use objects over the last several decades has placed civilians at great risk.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Oona Hathaway @oonahathaway.bsky.social · Jun 30

We also have some great dynamic data visualizations (with links to the full dataset on Dataverse)!

Check them out here:

dualuse.law.yale.edu

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · Jun 11

If you're starting law school this fall, you might be interested in my short essay, "How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students." You can download it for free here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · May 30

Must-read special issue in Dædalus (open-access!) on research ethics in the Middle East & North Africa by an extraordinary group of scholars covering threats to academic freedom, the politics & economics of knowledge production, disinformation, AI & much more: direct.mit.edu/daed/article....

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · May 2

FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants.

"This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program

In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

www.spencer.org

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Apr 26

Terrible news and a setback for research on police violence against civilians and the many students supported by @sabrinamkarim.bsky.social's NSF grant. Follow @gsslab.bsky.social for more about her important work with the Gender and Security Sector Lab: www.sabrinamkarim.com/gsslab

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Apr 24

See also @emilysbremer.bsky.social's very thoughtful review of an earlier version for Jotwell: adlaw.jotwell.com/toward-a-cro... Many thanks for this, Emily! @dukelaw.bsky.social @jonpetkun.bsky.social 2/2

Toward a Cross-Branch Perspective on Administration - Administrative Law

Jonathan Petkun & Joseph Schottenfeld, The Judicial Administrative Power, 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming), available at SSRN.Emily BremerWhat is administrative power and where does it fit with...

adlaw.jotwell.com

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Apr 24

Very excited about this new article by @jonpetkun.bsky.social & Joe Schottenfeld in the GW Law Review, "The Judicial Administrative Power"! Describes three functions of "nonadjudicatory activities" performed by federal courts: rulemaking, managing & communicating: www.gwlr.org/wp-content/u... 1/2

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Jon Petkun @jonpetkun.bsky.social · Apr 21

Really proud of my new article with the extraordinary Joe Schottenfeld (coming to a job market near you in the not-too-distant future!). We consider the federal judiciary's vast "administrative" powers and offer a few modest ideas for reform. Read @ www.gwlr.org/the-judicial... (thank you editors!)

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Apr 15

Congratulations @oonahathaway.bsky.social!!

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Matthew Cebul @matthewcebul.bsky.social · Mar 31

As many of you know, staff at the US Institute of Peace (myself included) were fired en masse last Friday night.

It’s a tough beat -- my amazing colleagues deserve better.

It’s also not over, as USIP’s board is contesting the DOGE takeover in court.

1/

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

DOGE fires nearly all staff at U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters

D.C. employees of the institute, founded and funded by Congress, received late-night termination notices, though most of its overseas staff were left in place.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Mara Revkin

Rachel Lopez @rlopez.bsky.social · Mar 26

Inspired by calls to reimagine the space currently populated by international criminal law, Meg deGuzman's and my essay engages in feminist dreaming—that is, seeks to reimagine accountability as it could be, viewed through a feminist lens.

Now up @ssrn.bsky.social:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Mara Revkin @mararevkin.bsky.social · Mar 26

Very excited to read all of these essays!