Marika Sosnowski

Marika Sosnowski is a Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), affiliated with the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies. She earned her PhD from the University of Melbourne with a thesis titled Ceasefires as Statebuilding and holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts from Monash University, Australia. She is admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria as a lawyer.

• Education:
  • PhD, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts, Monash University, Australia
• Research Interests:
  • Peace and security
  • War-to-peace transitions
  • Ceasefires
  • Political order
  • Local rebel governance
  • Legal systems in conflict zones
• Key Publications:
  • Redefining Ceasefires: Wartime Order and Statebuilding in Syria (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
  • Fear and Violence, Loyalty and Treason: Settlement of Status in Syria (International Studies Quarterly, 2023)
  • Neither Peace nor Democracy: The Role of Siege and Population Control in the Syrian Regime's Coercive Counterinsurgency Campaign (Small Wars and Insurgencies, 2022)
  • “The Right to Have Rights”: Documenting Identity in the Syrian Civil War (GIGA Focus Middle East, 2021)
  • Known Unknowns: Or the Things That You Thought You Knew about a Ceasefire in Gaza (Blog post, 2023)
• Scientific Awards:
  • Syrian Studies Association Dissertation Prize (2020)
• Projects:
  • Legal Identity Under Insurgencies and Unrecognized States (Swedish Research Council, 2022-2023)
  • Syria's “Post-war” Landscape (Fritz Thyssen Foundation, 2020-2022)
• Academic Engagement:
  • Presented The Bureaucratic Revolution: The Syrian Opposition's Civil Registry System at ECPR General Conference 2023
  • Organized GIGA Talk on ceasefire consequences in 2022