We consider the two-user interference channel where two independent pairs communicate concurrently and investigate its stable throughput region. First, the stability region is characterized for the general case, i.e., without any specific consideration on the transmission and reception structures. Second, we explore two different interference harnessing strategies at the receiver: treating interference as noise and successive interference cancellation. Furthermore, we provide conditions for the convexity of the stability region and for which a certain receiver strategy leads to broader stability region. The impact of multiple transmit antennas on the stability region is briefly discussed. Finally, we study the effect of random access on the stability region of the two-user interference channel.N. Pappas is with the