Rana B. Khoury

Rana B. Khoury serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, holding a concurrent appointment at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Her scholarly work examines political dynamics in conflict zones with particular emphasis on Syria and Jordan, investigating intersections of civil society, humanitarian intervention, and displacement.

Her research program spans Middle Eastern Politics, Civil Society and Social Movements, Refugee and Migration Studies, Humanitarian Aid in Conflict Zones, and Political Methodology. She analyzes how civil society organizations operate during wartime, the political consequences of humanitarian aid frameworks, and methodological innovations for studying hard-to-reach populations including refugees and conflict-affected communities. This work bridges qualitative field research with quantitative analysis to document political behavior under extreme conditions.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals escalating focus on Syrian civil society's role in democratic transitions (2024-2025), with recurring themes of digital activism through social media platforms, power asymmetries in humanitarian localization efforts, and civil society's resilience during war. These contributions advance broader fields including conflict studies, international relations, and refugee studies by centering local agency within global intervention frameworks while exposing tensions between international aid architectures and grassroots political mobilization.