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David Romano - Missouri State University. Springfield, MO, UNITED STATES

David Romano

Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics | Missouri State University

Springfield, MO, UNITED STATES

Dr. Romano researches the politics and government of the Middle East.

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Biography

Dr. David Romano is a Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics at Missouri State University. He has authored numerous publications on the Kurds and the Middle East, including two books.

His research interests cover nationalism, social movements, theories of peace and conflict, political violence, politicized Islam, Middle-East and Mediterranean politics (with a special emphasis on Turkey, Iraq, the Kurds and other Middle Eastern minorities) and foreign policy.

Dr. Romano has been a Rudaw columnist since 2010.

Industry Expertise (3)

International Affairs

Education/Learning

Research

Areas of Expertise (8)

Middle East and Mediterranean Politics (special emphasis on Turkey, Iraq, the Kurds and other Middle Eastern minorities)

Forced Migration (Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons)

Non-state Actors (particularly movements employing guerilla and terrorist tactics)

Politicized Islam

Globalization and Development Issues

Theories of Peace and Conflict

Social Movements

Nationalism

Accomplishments (5)

Governor’s Teaching Award (professional)

2015 State of Missouri

Missouri State University Foundation Teaching Award

2015

J.S. Seidman Research Fellowship

2008-2010 Rhodes College

CÉRIUM Post-Doctoral Scholarship (professional)

2005-2006 Université de Montréal

R.B. Myers Post-Doctoral Fellowship (professional)

2003-2005 Department of National Defence (Canada)

Education (4)

University of Toronto: Ph.D., Political Science 2002

Major Field: Developing Areas Minor Field: International Relations Thesis Title: Kurdish Nationalist Movements

Bilkent University: Visiting Researcher 1998

McGill University: M.A., Political Science 1993

Thesis Title: "A tale of two movements: Peru, 1965 and the present"

McGill University: B.A., Middle East Studies and Political Science 1991

Affiliations (2)

  • Kurdish Studies Journal: Member of Editorial Review Board
  • Cambridge University Press: Reviewer of Article Submissions and Book Manuscripts

Media Appearances (8)

Syrian business owner in Springfield laments the state of his native land

KY3  tv

2018-04-10

Dr. David Romano addresses most recent chemical attack in Syria.

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Syrians stifled by Lebanon’s new entry restrictions

Arab News  online

2018-02-18

Dr. David Romano weighs in on why Lebanon is restricting Syrians’ entry into the country.

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What Israel's PM could have said

Rudaw  

2017-09-14

This week a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gathered much attention from Kurdish and other Middle Eastern media. Mr. Netanyahu said that Israel “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of their own.”

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The fruits of Obama’s strategy and new challenges for Trump

Rudaw  

2017-09-01

With the liberation of Mosul and now Tal Afar from the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), the strategy of former US President Barack Obama finally bears fruit. In Syria as well, ISIS finds itself with its back against the wall as Kurdish-led PYD and SDF forces make their way through Raqqa and close in on (along with Assad regime forces from another direction) Deir ez-Zor.

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The Time for Kurdistan’s referendum is now

Rudaw  

2017-08-24

In an opinion piece on Wednesday, the editorial board of The New York Times joined a chorus of Western and Iranian voices saying “now is not the time for the Kurds’ referendum on independence.” While conceding that “self-determination is an understandable goal” and that Kurds have yearned for independence “for generations,” The New York Times throws out the same concerns and objections as others.

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Opinion Why Identity Matters in Foreign Policy

Rudaw  

2017-08-09

Listening to some scholars and analysts of foreign policy, states and their leaders rationally pursue the policies that simply maximize their interests — security, power and money, mainly. From this point of view, Turkey is increasingly distancing itself from NATO, Europe and the United States because of Brussel’s refusal to admit it to the European Union and Washington’s support of PKK-aligned Kurdish groups in Syria.

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Peeling Back the Layers, Understanding Islam and Muslims

KSMU  radio

2016-03-29

Dr. David Romano tries to clear up the stereotype of Islam by explaining the various aspects of Islam.

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Professor Seeks Clarity in Turbulent Middle Eastern Issues

KSMU  radio

2015-05-26

Dr. David Romano’s loved ones sometimes ask if he’d prefer to study a less volatile part of the world – Norwegian beaches, perhaps? But, that’s not him. He’s especially interested in social movements that take up arms for their cause.

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Event Appearances (7)

Israel’s Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan

Kurdistan at a Crossroads: Current Issues of Domestic and International Politics  Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan

2017-05-24

A Kurdish State in the Middle East: Best and Worst Case Scenarios

Southwestern Social Science Association  Austin, TX.

2017-04-15

Independence of Kurdistan; Opportunities and Challenges

Invited Speaker at American University of Duhok  Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan

2016-12-15

Intra-Kurdish Politics and the Different Kurdistans

Middle East Research Institute Conference on the Future of the Middle East  Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan

2016-10-27

Conflict, Democratization and the Kurdish Issue

“Diversity and Democracy” Lecture Series  Montreal, Canada

2016-02-18

Energy Dependency and Future of Energy Politics Around Turkey

Roundtable Speaker at Turkish Heritage Organization  Washington, D.C.

2016-02-03

Freedom of Expression in Turkey

12th International Conference on the European Union, Turkey and the Kurds  Brussels, Belgium

2016-01-26

Minds-Eye (1)

The big questions: Life and death in the Middle East

Dr. David Romano’s loved ones sometimes ask if he’d prefer to study a less volatile part of the world – Norwegian beaches, perhaps? But, he said, “The questions that got me interested in political science are the life-and-death questions.”

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Articles (33)

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Oil Imperative


Routledge Kurdish Handbook

Forthcoming


The Kurds


The Routledge Handbook of Middle East Minorities

Forthcoming


Israel’s Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan


Federalism, Secession, and International Recognition Regime: Iraqi Kurdistan at a Crossroads

Forthcoming


Forms and Prospects of Kurdish Armed Struggle


The Future of the Kurds in the Middle East: Representation and Reform after the Arab Spring

Forthcoming


The 'Arab Spring'; and the Kurds: New Opportunities and Threats


Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East Geopolitics, Ideology, and Strategy

2017


One Kurdish Nation and 1,001 Kurdish Politics


The Middle East Journal

2017 Popular and scholarly interest in the Kurds has exploded of late. In academia, this interest began even before the rise of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the Kurds’ checking of the jihadis’ ambitions in Syria and Iraq. This contrasts starkly with the situation only 20 years ago, when this reviewer was in the midst of his doctoral studies and could find only six books (in English or French) dealing with modern Kurdish issues in the University of Toronto’s library, the largest library collection in Canada.

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Social Movement Theory and Political Mobilization in Kurdistan


The Kurdish Question Revisited

2017


The United States and the Kurds of Iraq: Strange Allies


The Palestinian Authority and the Kurdistan Regional Government

2016 The relationship between the US government and the Iraqi Kurds, beginning in the Cold War and continuing to the present campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has been complicated. It is characterized by cooperation toward short-term US objectives while noticeably lacking consensus regarding Kurdish long-term goals.

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Relations Between the United States and Kurdistan


Kurdish Issues: Essays in Honor of Robert W. Olson

2016


Successful and Less Successful Interventions: Stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan


International Studies Perspectives

2015 The US troop surge and awakening movements are the two factors most often associated with the decrease of violence in Iraq after 2006. However, these policies, including a distinction between the Anbar Awakening and later Sons of Iraq (SOI) program, did not occur simultaneously.

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Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey: Temporary Marriage?


Middle East Policy

2015 In Turkish political circles, there is a popular quip: “The United States wanted Turkey and Iraq's Kurds to become friends, not get married.” As their cooperation deepens, especially in hydrocarbons, observers increasingly question whether the relationship will endure.

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Iraq's Descent Into Civil War: A Constitutional Explanation


The Middle East Journal

2014 In the summer of 2014, the Iraqi government lost control of much of the country. Insurgents — including the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), former Ba‘thists, and an array of Sunni tribes — captured Mosul, and then much of western Iraq. Although complex factors lay behind these developments, this article focuses on one theme of central importance: attempts to consolidate power in Baghdad and the concomitant evisceration of Iraq’s constitution. When key provisions of a very decentralizing federal constitution were ignored or violated, the blowback from disenfranchised groups in Iraq brought the country to the brink of collapse.

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Central State Weakness and Kurdish Opportunities


The Kurdish Spring

2013


The Long Road Toward Kurdish Accommodation in Turkey: The Role of Elections and International Pressures


Democratization and Ethnic Communities

2013


The Kurds and E.U. Enlargement


Divided Nations and European Integration

2013


The Jihadists in Iraq


Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics

2013


Turkish and Iranian Efforts to Deter Kurdish Insurgent Attacks


Deterring Terrorism: Theory and Practice

2012


Iraqi Kurdistan: challenges of autonomy in the wake of US withdrawal


International Affairs

2010 In August 2010, the United States officially ended the combat mission of its military forces in Iraq and withdrew all but 50,000 of its troops from the country. Iraqi Kurds now contemplate the implications of the looming withdrawal of the remaining 50,000, scheduled for the end of 2011.

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The Kurds and Contemporary Regional Political Dynamics


The Kurdish Policy Imperative

2010


La migration irrégulière en provenance d’Iraq via la Turquie (Irregular Migration from Iraq through Turkey)


Les migrations internationals contemporaines

2009


Regional Organizations, Regional Identities and Minorities: The Arabs and the Kurdish Question


Beyond Regionalism? Regional Cooperation, Regionalism and Regionalisation in the Middle East

2008


The Future of Kirkuk


Governance in Ethnically Mixed Cities

2007


IDP and Refugee Return to Northern Iraq: Sustainable Returns or Demographic Bombs?


Refuge

2007 Regime change in Iraq has opened the door to the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), the majority of whom were expelled from Kirkuk and other areas in northern Iraq. The Iraqi case presents three broad, readily identifiable categories of displaced persons: refugees in Iraq's neighbouring states, internally displaced persons, and refugees and migrants in third countries further afield.

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The Future of Kirkuk


Ethnopolitics

2007 The analysis below provides an overview of the modern history of the city of Kirkuk and its surrounding area, its role in Iraqi politics, and the risk of sectarian conflict over control of the Kirkuk region breaking out.

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Women in Post-Saddam Iraq: One Step Forward or Two Steps Back?


NWSA (National Women's Studies Association) Journal

2006 This article examines the ever-changing position of women in post-monarchical Iraq. Ironically, many women's gains obtained under Saddam's Ba'athist regime were subsequently lost under the same regime.

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Conducting Research in the Middle East's Conflict Zones


PS: Political Science and Politics

2006 In many people’s minds, the Middle East stands out as the world’s most dangerous place. I often remark to my colleagues and friends, however, that I feel safer doing field research in most Middle Eastern countries than I would in much of Africa or Latin America.

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The Palestinians


The Iraq War: Causes and Consequences

2006


Whose House is this Anyway? IDP and Refugee Return in Post-Saddam Iraq


Journal of Refugee Studies

2005 Although many people displaced by Saddam's regime over the years looked forward to returning as soon as the 2003 war ended, a number of problems emerged which continued to bedevil the return process as late as one year after the war.

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Cyprus and Ethnicity: Impact on Politics and Society


The Encyclopedia of the Developing World

2005


Globalisation, Extremism and Violence in Poor Countries


Third World Quarterly

2004 Globalisation - understood as external and internal market liberalisation - generates conditions in poor countries that are conducive to the emergence of extremist movements, instability and conflict. Liberalisation and the accompanying requirement of macroeconomic stabilisation subject people to rapid and sometimes devastating changes in fortune. Yet globalisation has had vastly different effects in different countries.

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Safe Havens as Political Projects: The Case of Iraqi Kurdistan


States Within States: Incipient Political Entities in the Post-Cold War Era

2004


Modern Communications Technology in Ethnic Nationalist Hands: The Case of the Kurds


Canadian Journal of Political Science

2002 This article examines the effect of modern media and communications technology on ethnic nationalist resurgence, using the Kurds as a case example.


The Ethnic Question in an Environment of Insecurity: the Kurds in Turkey


Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies

1999 This article examines the effect that a poor structural context, what we term an "environment of insecurity", has on the Kurdish ethnic nationalist mobilization in Turkey. The empirical evidence for this analysis is based on data from the 1993 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey [TDHS].

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