TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE
Visiting a prison in Sulamaniyah, Iraq, where alleged Islamic State fighters are detained (February 2017)
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After the Islamic State:
Balancing Accountability and Reconciliation in Iraq Short article summary in Lawfare United Nations University (2018) 
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Retribution or Reconciliation?
Post-Conflict Attitudes Toward Enemy Collaborators (with Kristen Kao) Forthcoming at The American Journal of Political Science Short article summary in The Washington Post
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This report addresses how Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities can, in the aftermath of the retaking of Mosul and other formerly IS-controlled areas, accurately and fairly distinguish between IS affiliates who pose a genuine threat to national security and civilians who merely lived and worked in areas controlled by the group. It also assesses how trust can be rebuilt in multi-religious, multi-ethnic communities, where Sunnis are feared or resented for their actual or perceived collaboration with IS, and what strategies can help bring an end to cycles of violence and revenge. It further considers whether transitional justice frameworks could offer an alternative to the dominant, highly punitive approach, by granting amnesty for individuals who are not accused of serious crimes. The report is based on fieldwork and interviews conducted in diverse locations in Iraq in April and December 2017, observations of trials of IS affiliates, and a large-scale survey of more than 1,400 residents of Mosul.
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Armed groups seeking to govern territory require the cooperation of many civilians, who are widely perceived as enemy collaborators after conflict ends. The empirical literature on attitudes toward transitional justice focuses heavily on fighters, overlooking more nuanced understandings of proportional justice for civilian collaborators. Through a survey experiment conducted in an Iraqi city which was controlled by the Islamic State, we find that variation in the type of collaboration an actor engages in strongly determines preferences for punishment and forgiveness. While exposure to violence is associated with a greater desire for revenge, perceived volition behind an act—a relatively unstudied factor—is much more important. This research provides unique empirical data on the microfoundations of enemy collaborator culpability. By widening our analytical lens to consider a more realistically broad spectrum of enemy collaboration, we avoid affirming a false dichotomy between victims and perpetrators that is commonly adopted in post-war settings.
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