Maria Fantappie Former Senior Analyst, Iraq Please submit all media inquiries to mfantappie@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71 Crisis Group Role Maria Fantappie is Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Iraq. Maria has conducted fieldwork in Iraq and Syria since 2009, and works with other members of the Middle East & North Africa team to research and produce reports on security, conflict, politics, governance, and social issues on Iraq, Syria and the Kurdish regions. She has engaged policymakers on her research at some of the highest levels of government in the US, Europe and the Middle East. Areas of Expertise Civil-Military relations Institutions and social change in the Middle East Iraq, Syria, Kurdish politics Professional Background Before joining Crisis Group in 2012, Maria was a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut and associate researcher at the Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO). She has taught at American University of Iraq in Suleimani and Sciences Po Paris and has consulted for the World Bank on youth-related issues in the Middle East. Maria completed her PhD at King’s College London, Department of War Studies, and earned an MA and MPhil with distinction from Sciences Po Paris, Department of Middle Eastern Studies. Selected Publications In addition to publishing numerous research outputs and policy reports for Crisis Group and Carnegie, Maria’s writing appeared in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, Revue Moyen Orient and Ashark al-Awsat, among others. She is also a contributor to Limes, the Italian Review of Geopolitics, and has published for the Istituto Affari Internazionli (ISPI). Languages English French Arabic Italian In The News 26 Oct 2017 For the Sunnis, there's a lack of political cohesion about exactly what they want. [Iraq's] Abadi government has never needed the Sunnis more than now. The New York Times Maria Fantappie Former Senior Analyst, Iraq 23 Oct 2017 In 2008-09, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) carried out an extensive study on what it called Iraq’s ‘Disputed Internal Boundaries’ (DIBs) and proposed specific ways forward to settle the question of the Kurdish region’s boundary and the disposition of the income derived from the sale of oil and gas located there. Middle East Online Maria Fantappie Former Senior Analyst, Iraq 25 Sep 2017 [The Iraqi Kurdistan referendum's] impact on Iraq will depend less on its turnout and results, and more on how Kurds and Iraqis will react to the vote and manipulate its results to achieve their political aims. Al Jazeera Maria Fantappie Former Senior Analyst, Iraq 29 May 2017 The Iranians have been prioritizing something that the U.S. has overlooked [in Iraq]: control over strategic roads, rather than control of the Sunni communities. AP Maria Fantappie Former Senior Analyst, Iraq 7 Jan 2017 The [U.S.] military support has boosted the YPG’s confidence to move beyond Kurdish populated areas and grow their ambitions even beyond Syria. The Washington Post Maria Fantappie Former Senior Analyst, Iraq 20 Oct 2016 It is true that Turkey is stepping into a foreign country, but it is also true that some of the Iraqi actors have strong links to regional powers. So how to draw the line between what is Iraqi and non-Iraqi? It's kind of difficult. AFP Maria Fantappie Former Senior Analyst, Iraq Latest Updates Op-Ed / Middle East & North Africa 16 January 2018 Twilight of the Kurds Kurdish officials once dreamed of forging their own state out of the ashes of the war against the Islamic State. Now they are fighting for their very survival. Originally published in Foreign Policy Also available in العربية Commentary / Middle East & North Africa 20 September 2017 How to Mitigate the Risks of Iraqi Kurdistan's Referendum A century-long quest for an independent Kurdistan has encouraged Iraqi Kurds to exploit Iraq’s ongoing crises and schedule a referendum on 25 September 2017. But the referendum is more a reflection of Iraq’s disorder than the Kurds’ readiness for statehood, and the vote’s outcome could exacerbate internal and regional tensions. Also available in العربية Op-Ed / Middle East & North Africa 19 September 2017 The Politics of the Kurdish Independence Referendum On September 25, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani plans to hold a referendum on Kurdish independence. The results will not be legally binding, but in calling for a vote, the Kurdish leadership has put its own society and its foreign partners into a bind. Although the vote may extend the lifespan of a Kurdish leadership otherwise in decline, it calls for unity that mutes domestic dissent and risks provoking crises that will leave Kurdistan externally exposed. Originally published in Foreign Affairs Also available in العربية Op-Ed / Middle East & North Africa 1 August 2017 Il Grande Kurdistan Resta Un’Utopia Originally published in Limes, Italian Review of Geopolitics Op-Ed / Middle East & North Africa 9 July 2017 L'Iraq dopo Mosul: unità cercasi ma è rischio frammentazione Originally published in Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale Load more