Mara Revkin | Scholars@Duke

Mara Revkin
Associate Professor of Law

Mara Redlich Revkin joined the Duke Law faculty in 2022 as an Associate Professor of Law. Her primary research and teaching interests are in armed conflict, peace-building, transitional justice, migration, policing, and property with a regional focus on the Middle East and particularly Iraq and Syria.

Professor Revkin holds a J.D. from Yale Law School (2016) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University (2019) where her dissertation examined the Islamic State’s governance of civilians in Iraq and Syria. She uses qualitative and quantitative empirical methods including surveys, experiments, interviews, and archival research. In addition to her academic research, she has worked with and advised United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organizations on the design of evidence-based programs and policies that aim to strengthen rule of law and the protection of human rights, support peaceful reconciliation after conflict, and mitigate the root causes of political violence and extremism.

Professor Revkin’s work has been published or is forthcoming in The Journal of Politics, The American Journal of Political Science, The American Journal of Comparative Law, The Journal of Conflict Resolution, The Journal of Global Security Studies, World Development, The Yale Journal of International Law, The Harvard National Security Journal, The Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Foreign Affairs, and The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law. Her research has been funded by the U.S. Institute of Peace, Innovations for Poverty Action, and the Folke Bernadotte Academy, among others.

Before entering academia, she was the Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, a Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Middle East Program), a Critical Language Scholar in Jordan (Arabic), and a Fulbright Fellow in Oman. She holds a B.A. in Political Science with minors in Arabic and Anthropology from Swarthmore College

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Associate Professor of Law, Law School, Duke University 2022

Contact Information

Duke University School of Law 210 Science Drive, Room 3016, Durham, NC 27708
revkin@law.duke.edu

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Yale University 2019
- J.D., Yale University 2016
Recognition
In the News
- SEP 20, 2022 School of Law
  
  New Faculty Member Brings New Strategies for Peace and Human Rights
Research
Selected Grants
- Liability and Blame: How Civilians Involvement in War Affects their Victimization awarded by Folke Bernadotte Academy 2022 - 2023
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - Revkin, Mara. “Managing Mixed Repatriation in a Legal Vacuum: Lessons Learned From Syria (Accepted).” Yale Journal of International Law 47 (2023).
  - Revkin, M. “When Do “Closed Camps” Become Prisons by Another Name?” Yale Journal of International Law Online 47, no. 1 (2022): 57–70.
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  - Revkin, M., and K. Kao. “No Peace Without Punishment? Reintegrating Islamic State “Collaborators” in Iraq (Accepted).” American Journal of Comparative Law, 2022.
  - Revkin, Mara, and Janina Dill. “The Construction of Liability: How Civilians’ Insolvent in War Affects Their Victimization (In preparation),” 2022.
  - Revkin, Mara, and Orly Stern. “The Blind Spots of International Humanitarian Law (In preparation),” 2022.
  - Revkin, Mara. “Reflections on Authoritarianism.” Arab Law Quarterly 36, no. 4–5 (2022): 525–30.
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  - Revkin, Mara. “How Does Subnational Variation in Repression Affect Attitudes Toward Police? Evidence From Iraq’s 2019 Protests.” Violence: An International Journal 3, no. 1 (2022): 85–99.
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  - Revkin, M. “Insurgent Legality: State-Building and Failure of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.” Proceedings of the Asil Annual Meeting 115 (2021): 297–302.
  - Revkin, M. “Competitive Governance and Displacement Decisions Under Rebel Rule: Evidence From the Islamic State in Iraq.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 65, no. 1 (2021): 46–80.
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  - Revkin, Mara, and Elisabeth Jean Wood. “The Islamic State's Pattern of Sexual Violence: Ideology and Institutions, Policies and Practices,” 2021.
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  - Revkin, Mara, and Kristen Kao. “Retribution or Reconciliation? Post-Conflict Attitudes Toward Enemy Collaborators.” American Journal of Political Science, 2021.
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  - Revkin, M. “What Explains Taxation by Resource-Rich Rebels? Evidence From the Islamic State in Syria.” Journal of Politics 82, no. 2 (2020): 757–64.
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  - Revkin, M., and A. Ahram. “Perspectives on the Rebel Social Contract: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.” World Development 132 (2020).
  - Revkin, Mara. “When Terrorists Govern: Protecting Civilians in Conflicts With State-Building Armed Groups.” Harvard National Security Journal, no. 1 (2018): 100–145.
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  - Revkin, M. “Deprivatizing Islamic Law: An Argument for Judicial Interpretation of Shari'a in American Courts.” Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 47, no. 2 (2015): 246–66.
  - Revkin, Mara. “Triadic Legal Pluralism in North Sinai: A Case Study of State, Shari'a, and 'Urf Courts in Conflict and Cooperation.” Ucla Journal of Islamic & Near Eastern Law 13, no. 1 (2014): 21–59.
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  - Revkin, M. “Egypt’s Constitution in Question.” Middle East Law & Governance 5, no. 3 (2013): 331–43.
  - Revkin, M., and C. Mallat. “Middle Eastern Law.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 9 (2013): 405–33.
- Book Sections
  - Revkin, Mara. “The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of ‘Perpetual’ War in Iraq.” In Iraq 20 Years On: Insider Reflections on the War and Its Aftermath. Chatham House, 2023.
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  - Revkin, M., F. Kohstall, and S. Parkinson. “After the Field.” In Safer Field Research in the Social Sciences: A Guide to Human and Digital Security in Hostile Environments, 69–88. Sage Publications, 2020.
  - Revkin, M. ““I Am Nothing Without a Weapon”: Understanding Child Recruitment and Use by Armed Groups in Syria and Iraq.” In Cradled by Conflict: Child Involvement With Armed Groups in Contemporary Conflict, 104–39. United Nations University, 2018.
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  - Revkin, M., and N. Brown. “Islamic Law and Constitutions.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law, 779–818. Oxford University Press, 2018.
- Other Articles
  - Revkin, Mara, and Kristen Kao. “How the Iraqi Crackdown on the Islamic State May Actually Increase Support for the Islamic State.” Washington Post, 2019.
- Reports
  - Revkin, Mara, Monica Bell, Nicole Nguyen, Hayal Akarsu, Joanna Gilmore, Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Omar Sirri, and Alex Vitale. “Roundtable: Police Reform in Global Perspective.” Century International, 2022.
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  - Revkin, M. “Pathways to Reintegration: Iraq Families Formerly Associated With ISIL.” UNDP, 2021.
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  - Revkin, M., J. Klugman, R. Nagel, and O. Stern. “Can the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and International Humanitarian Law Join Forces?: Emerging Findings and Promising Directions.” Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, 2021.
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  - Revkin, M., and O. Aymerich. “Perceptions of Police, Security, and Governance in Iraq.” International Organization for Migration & Yale Law School, Center for Global Legal Challenges, 2020.
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  - Revkin, M., and D. Jabari. “West Mosul: Perceptions on Return and Reintegration Among Stayees, IDPs, and Returnees.” International Organization for Migration, 2019.
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  - Revkin, M. “After the Islamic State: Balancing Accountability and Reconciliation in Iraq.” United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, 2018.
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  - Revkin, Mara, and Kristen Kao. “To Punish or to Pardon? Reintegrating Rebel Collaborators After Conflict in Iraq.” The Program on Governance and Local Development at Gothenburg, 2018.
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  - Revkin, M. “The Legal Foundations of the Islamic State.” The Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, 2016.
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  - Revkin, M., T. Eisenzweig, and P. Posada. “A “Most Serious Crime”: Pakistan’s Unlawful Use of the Death Penalty.” Justice Project Pakistan and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, 2016.
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Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
- LAW 170: Property 2023
- LAW 604: Ad Hoc Tutorial 2023
- LAW 640: Independent Research 2023
- LAW 538: Transitional Justice 2022
- POLSCI 537S: Transitional Justice 2022
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Service to Duke
- Participant. Faculty Success Program. National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). 2022 2022

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Education, Training, & Certifications

In the News

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Other Articles

Reports

Recent Courses

Service to Duke