Nicole is a freelance writer and doctoral student in political science, specializing in the political economy of the Middle East. She has traveled extensively throughout the region, and has written about various area issues including labor, immigration, spacial inequalities and state/market transformation in the Gulf.  She is also interested in the politics of post-conflict reconstruction.  In her semioccasional spare time, Nicole enjoys reading, running, and going on culinary expeditions in the outer burbs.