Political Inclusion

A.Kadir Yildirim, Ph.D., Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy

Yildirim is a research scholar at the Baker Institute. His main research interests include democratization, politics and religion, political Islam and Turkish politics. His most recent book, "Muslim Democratic Parties in the Middle East: Economy and Politics of Islamist Moderation," analyzes the trajectories of Islamist parties in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.

Mazen Hassan, Ph.D., Cairo University

Hassan is an assistant professor of comparative politics at Cairo University and a Carnegie Fellow at Harvard University's Ash Center. He specializes in party systems, electoral systems, new democracies and experimental political science. He has co-authored two books on the Egyptian political system in transition following the 2011 revolution.

Hassan’s research examines whether the experiment of substantially increased representation of women and Copts in the Egyptian parliament has led to significant changes in either the introduction of new topics or the discussion of traditional topics through content analysis of parliamentary scripts and interviews.

Valentine Moghadam, Ph.D., Northeastern University

Moghadam is the director of the International Affairs Program and the Middle East Studies Program at Northeastern University, where she is also a professor of sociology. Her areas of research include revolutions and social movements, transnational feminist networks, and gender, development and democratization in the MENA region.

Moghadam's research analyzes Tunisia’s democratic transition — its achievements thus far, its potential as a successful women-friendly democracy, and the challenges that it faces — drawing on new fieldwork to elicit information on women’s legislative priorities and their progress in electoral politics and political leadership.

Imad Salamey, Ph.D., Lebanese American University

Salamey is the director of the Institute for Social Justice and Conflict Resolution at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon, where he is an associate professor of political science and international affairs. He is also the president of the Center for Arab Research and Development.

Salamey’s research aims to answer what constitutes a legitimate and viable state — given communal diversity — by exploring different means for integration and accommodation, such as constitutional revisions, electoral systems, and power-sharing. He presents different political inclusion propositions for multi-communitarian states including Syria, Libya, Yemen, Lebanon and Morocco.