Benjamin Smith of University of Florida & David Waldner of University of Virginia discuss their latest book, Rethinking the Resource Curse: Elements in the Politics of Development, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book includes results of the authors' own research, showing that a set of historically contingent events in the Middle East and North Africa are at the root of what has been mistaken for a global political resource curse. (Starts at 0:36). Kevan Harris of UCLA & Rasmus Elling of University of Copenhagen speak about their new article entitled, "Difference in difference: language, geography, and ethno-racial identity in contemporary Iran," published in Ethnic and Racial Studies. (Starts at 38:54). Marsin Alshamary of the Brookings Institution talks about the upcoming Iraqi election. (Starts at 58:31).

Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade (playing Ney) and Farah Kaddour (on Buzuq). You can find more of Bashir's work on his YouTube Channel.