International Relations

FSI researchers strive to understand how countries relate to one another, and what policies are needed to achieve global stability and prosperity. International relations experts focus on the challenging U.S.-Russian relationship, the alliance between the U.S. and Japan and the limitations of America’s counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

Foreign aid is also examined by scholars trying to understand whether money earmarked for health improvements reaches those who need it most. And FSI’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center has published on the need for strong South Korean leadership in dealing with its northern neighbor.

FSI researchers also look at the citizens who drive international relations, studying the effects of migration and how borders shape people’s lives. Meanwhile FSI students are very much involved in this area, working with the United Nations in Ethiopia to rethink refugee communities.

Trade is also a key component of international relations, with FSI approaching the topic from a slew of angles and states. The economy of trade is rife for study, with an APARC event on the implications of more open trade policies in Japan, and FSI researchers making sense of who would benefit from a free trade zone between the European Union and the United States.

5 Essential Insights on How War is Reshaping the Arab World

Read more about 5 Essential Insights on How War is Reshaping the Arab World

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https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/arabreform

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Wed, 05/27/2026 - 12:00

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At a moment marked by war, regional fragmentation, and mounting uncertainty across the Middle East, the Program on Arab Reform and Development (ARD) at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law hosted a wide-ranging conversation between historian and Middle East scholar Joel Beinin and Hesham Sallam, CDDRL Senior Research Scholar and ARD Associate Director.

The discussion explored how the region’s current crises fit within longer historical trajectories, and what they may signal for the future of political order, state power, and social movements in the Arab world.

Throughout the conversation, Beinin situated contemporary wars and political ruptures within broader histories of authoritarianism, imperial intervention, and the erosion of regional political cohesion. The discussion ranged from the legacies of the post-9/11 era to the fragmentation of the Arab regional order, the failures of democratization, and the global rise of the far right.

Here are five major takeaways from the discussion:

1. The current moment is not simply another regional crisis — it reflects the fragmentation of the Arab order itself.

One of the central themes of the discussion was that today’s regional turmoil differs fundamentally from earlier periods of instability. Beinin argued that while the Arab world has long experienced cycles of war, authoritarianism, and external intervention, the current period is distinctive because the very idea of a coherent “Arab world” has weakened dramatically.

As Beinin put it, “A quarter of a century ago, you could still talk about the Arab world with a certain sense of unity… and today, increasingly, it doesn’t.” He stressed that this fragmentation is not merely geopolitical but also political and ideological. Regional powers now pursue sharply divergent agendas, while many traditional centers of Arab political and cultural influence have declined.

Egypt occupied a central place in this analysis. Beinin argued that Egypt, historically viewed as a political and cultural anchor of the Arab world, can no longer plausibly play a regional leadership role. He described the Egyptian regime as deeply constrained by debt crises, Gulf dependency, and intensifying authoritarian rule. Meanwhile, Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increasingly shape regional politics, albeit without the broader political legitimacy or cultural influence once associated with Cairo.

The result, according to Beinin, is a region characterized less by shared political trajectories than by fragmentation, competing alignments, and increasingly localized struggles for survival and authority.

2. The legacies of the post-9/11 era continue to shape U.S. policy toward the Middle East.

Early in the conversation, Sallam read aloud a passage from President George W. Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address, warning that the United States “will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.” Sallam then revealed that the quotation was not from President Donald Trump, but from Bush in the lead-up to the Iraq War.

The exchange set up one of the discussion’s recurring themes: the persistence of interventionist frameworks in American political discourse on the Middle East.

Beinin argued that much of contemporary U.S. rhetoric surrounding Iran reproduces assumptions and narratives that shaped the run-up to the Iraq War. “None of it was true when they said it about Iraq,” he remarked, “and none of it is true when they’re saying it about Iran.”

More broadly, he suggested that the post-9/11 political climate fundamentally reshaped how the United States discussed the region. Reflecting on the years after the September 11 attacks, Beinin described g a political atmosphere in which attempts to contextualize regional dynamics were frequently dismissed as apologetics for extremism.

The conversation repeatedly returned to the dangers of reducing regional politics to moral binaries or civilizational narratives. Instead, Beinin emphasized the importance of historically grounded analysis attentive to state interests, political economy, and international power relations.

3. The authoritarian restoration after the Arab uprisings has become deeper and more punitive.

Another major takeaway concerned the aftermath of the Arab uprisings of 2010-2011 and the broader trajectory of authoritarianism in the region.

Beinin argued that states such as Egypt and Tunisia have emerged from the post-uprising period with harsher and more consolidated forms of authoritarian rule than existed prior to 2011. “Any kind of political, civil, even to some degree cultural resistance has been stamped out,” he said, citing the expansion of surveillance, imprisonment, and repression.

Yet the discussion also rejected the simplistic notion that the Arab uprisings were meaningless failures. Beinin pointed to later protest waves in Sudan and Algeria during 2019–2020 as evidence that activists and civil movements had absorbed important lessons from the earlier uprisings.

In Sudan in particular, he argued, protest movements understood that “the army is not on the side of the people,” reflecting a deeper awareness of how military institutions could derail revolutionary transitions. At the same time, Beinin stressed that regional interventions by Gulf powers played a major role in undermining these movements. He described how competing regional actors backed rival military factions, contributing to fragmentation and ultimately overwhelming civilian political forces.

The broader implication was that authoritarian resilience in the Arab world cannot be understood solely through domestic dynamics. Regional rivalries, external funding networks, and transnational counterrevolutionary alliances all play a central role in shaping political outcomes.

4. The Middle East’s crises are increasingly tied to a broader global rightward shift.

While much of the conversation focused specifically on the Arab world, Beinin consistently situated regional developments within broader international trends.

He argued that the current moment reflects not only regional disarray but also the rise of increasingly exclusionary and authoritarian political currents globally. Beinin pointed to “a hard lurch to the right” in multiple countries, including Israel, India, and parts of Europe.

This international dimension, he suggested, has profound implications for the Middle East. The rise of nationalist and authoritarian politics globally has helped normalize more extreme forms of militarism, ethnonationalism, and state violence. It has also weakened many of the international norms and institutions that once constrained state behavior, however imperfectly.

The discussion of Israel occupied a particularly important place here. Beinin linked Israel’s rightward shift to broader transformations in global politics. At several points, the conversation underscored how the wars in Gaza and Lebanon cannot be understood in isolation from these wider ideological and geopolitical currents.

Rather than treating the Middle East as uniquely unstable or exceptional, Beinin repeatedly encouraged the audience to see the region as deeply connected to broader crises of democracy, inequality, nationalism, and authoritarianism unfolding globally.

5. Historical perspective remains essential in moments of upheaval.

Perhaps the most important theme running through the conversation was methodological rather than purely political: the insistence on historical perspective in moments of crisis.

At the outset of the event, Sallam emphasized that the purpose of the discussion was “not to chase after the headlines,” but rather to “take the long view” and place contemporary developments “in conversation with scholarly research and debates.”

Throughout the conversation, Beinin repeatedly cautioned against analyses driven solely by immediate events, media cycles, or simplistic geopolitical narratives. Instead, he urged audiences to understand contemporary wars and political transformations as products of longer histories involving colonial legacies, state formation, authoritarian restructuring, social movements, and international intervention.

The discussion ultimately offered no easy optimism about the region’s future. Yet it also rejected fatalistic portrayals of the Arab world as uniquely doomed to instability. Instead, the conversation highlighted the importance of historical memory, critical scholarship, and political analysis capable of connecting contemporary crises to deeper structural processes.

A full recording of the conversation can be viewed below:

Smoke rises over buildings on March 3, 2026, in Tehran, Iran.

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Six Takeaways on the War and the Arab World

Scholars convened by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law’s Program on Arab Reform and Development identify six ways the conflict is testing the limits of Arab states' alliances, economic ambitions, and prospects for reform.

Six Takeaways on the War and the Arab World

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Syria in Transition: Historical Origins and Prospects

In a conversation with ARD Associate Director Hesham Sallam, Bassam Haddad, a leading expert on Syria and Associate Professor at George Mason University, addressed the factors that led to Assad’s fall, the role of international actors, and the uncertain prospects of Syria under its new leadership.

Syria in Transition: Historical Origins and Prospects

Hesham Sallam speaks at a podium with panelists Samia Errazzouki and Joel Beinin

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Stanford experts detail democratic decline, authoritarian trends in the Middle East

Stanford scholars urged historical approaches to examine the impact of regional conflict in the Middle East and North Africa on authoritarian stability and dissent.

Stanford experts detail democratic decline, authoritarian trends in the Middle East

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In a discussion convened by the Program on Arab Reform and Development, Stanford scholars situate regional upheaval within longer trajectories of imperial intervention, authoritarian rule, and global political shifts.

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Wed, 05/27/2026 - 16:58

In Brief

Stanford scholars Joel Beinin and Hesham Sallam examined the state of conflict and fragmentation in the Arab world, arguing that the current moment differs fundamentally from past instability in the region.
Beinin connected current U.S. rhetoric on Iran to post-9/11 interventionism while analyzing deepening authoritarianism following the Arab uprisings.
The discussion situated the Middle East upheaval within global rightward shifts, emphasizing historical perspective over headline-driven analysis of regional crises.

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Six Takeaways on the War and the Arab World

Read more about Six Takeaways on the War and the Arab World

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https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/arabreform

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Date

Fri, 03/06/2026 - 12:00

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As the U.S.-Israel war with Iran escalates, Arab governments find themselves navigating one of the most difficult and delicate security challenges in decades. At a recent panel hosted by the Program on Arab Reform and Development at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), scholars examined how Arab states are responding to the conflict and what it reveals about the evolving regional order.

The panel brought together Sean Yom, Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple University and Senior Fellow at Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN), Lisa Blaydes, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, and Hesham Sallam, Senior Research Scholar and Associate Director for Research at CDDRL and Associate Director of its Program on Arab Reform and Development, who reflected on the geopolitical, economic, and institutional consequences of the war. Their discussion converged on six key takeaways about how the conflict is reshaping the political landscape of the Arab world.

1. The War Reflects a Long Pattern of U.S. Intervention in the Region

From the perspective of many governments in the Arab world, the confrontation with Iran fits into a long-standing pattern of American military intervention in the region.

“This is the fifth decade in a row,” Yom observed, “where the United States at some point has tried to overthrow some sovereign government in the Middle East and North Africa.”

From Libya in the 1980s to Iraq in the 1990s and 2000s and Libya again in the 2010s, the region has repeatedly been drawn into cycles of U.S. military involvement.

The persistence of great-power intervention means that Arab states must constantly navigate the risks of aligning with global power politics.

This is the fifth decade in a row where the United States at some point has tried to overthrow some sovereign government in the Middle East and North Africa.

Sean Yom

Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple University and Senior Fellow at Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN)

2. U.S. Security Partnerships Can Make Arab States Targets

Yom highlighted a paradox shaping the strategic environment of Arab states: the closer their security ties with the United States, the more vulnerable they may become in a regional confrontation.

“For the most part,” Yom explained, “the intensity of Iranian counterstrikes and retaliation on Arab states covaries with the degree of their relationship with the United States.”

States hosting American military bases or deeply integrated into U.S. security strategy are more likely to find themselves on the frontlines of Iranian retaliation.

“The more of a client state they are, the more troops they host, the deeper their foreign policies are tied to the demands of American grand strategy — then the more likely they are going to be struck.”

This dynamic creates a fundamental strategic dilemma.

For decades, small and medium-sized states in the region have relied on alliances with Washington to enhance their security. The current conflict illustrates how those same alliances can also increase their exposure to regional escalation.

3. Arab Governments Are Trying to Avoid Being Seen as Participants in the War

Arab governments today face a difficult balancing act: responding to Iranian attacks while avoiding the perception that they are fighting alongside the United States and Israel. Many Arab governments must navigate public opinion that is deeply skeptical of Israel and wary of Western military intervention in the region.

As Sallam put it, these governments are trying to avoid creating “the impression that they are fighting alongside the United States and Israel in this war.”

The result is a diplomatic tightrope: condemning attacks on their territory without being drawn into the broader conflict.

Suddenly, when you have a conflict that disrupts the flow of investments, tourism, and even trading routes in places like the Strait of Hormuz or the Red Sea, this shakes the foundations of these projects.

Hesham Sallam

Senior Research Scholar and Associate Director for Research at CDDRL, Associate Director of the Program on Arab Reform and Development

4. A Regional War Threatens the Gulf’s Economic Transformation Projects

A fourth major takeaway concerns the economic stakes of regional stability.

Blaydes emphasized that wars can have far-reaching political economy consequences. Major conflicts reshape investment patterns, redirect state resources toward security priorities, and increase global perceptions of risk.

When governments must divert resources toward defense spending and crisis management, economic diversification plans can quickly lose momentum.

For Gulf regimes that have tied their political projects to visions of economic modernization, prolonged regional instability therefore represents a serious political challenge.

“Suddenly, when you have a conflict that disrupts the flow of investments, tourism, and even trading routes in places like the Strait of Hormuz or the Red Sea,” Sallam observed, “this shakes the foundations of these projects.”

5. The War Is Occurring Amid Deep Divisions Among Regional Powers

The discussion highlighted that the war with Iran is unfolding against the backdrop of a significant regional rift.

According to Sallam, one emerging divide involves different visions for managing instability in fragile states. Some regional actors — including the UAE and Israel — have tacitly or directly promoted fragmentation of political authority in places like Sudan, Yemen, and Gaza.

Others, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey, have tended to favor more traditional models of centralized authoritarian stability.

These competing strategic preferences have already clashed in multiple regional conflicts, most recently in Sudan and Yemen.

Thus, Iran’s potential neutralization as a regional power player as a result of the war, Sallam noted, will not necessarily result in regional stability. It will simply intensify these rivalries among the remaining powers.

The constant violence is not productive for the promotion of democracy, development, or the rule of law. Having a constant stream of weapons, conflict, violence, post-conflict reconciliation, [and] regional rivalries…undermines all three.

Lisa Blaydes

Senior Fellow at FSI and Professor of Political Science

6. War Strengthens Authoritarian Politics and Weakens the Prospect for Reform and Development

The panel highlighted the negative ramifications of regional conflict for reform and development.

“The constant violence is not productive for the promotion of democracy, development, or the rule of law,” Blaydes noted. “Having a constant stream of weapons, conflict, violence, post-conflict reconciliation, [and] regional rivalries…undermines all three.”

“Anytime a regional conflict breaks out,” Yom argued, “it’s always bad for democratic struggle on the home front.”

The war, according to Sallam, could result in outcomes that would be “catastrophic not only for the people and society of Iran, but also the people and societies of the region at large.”

A full recording of the March 3 panel can be viewed below:

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Syria in Transition: Historical Origins and Prospects

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Stanford experts detail democratic decline, authoritarian trends in the Middle East

Stanford scholars urged historical approaches to examine the impact of regional conflict in the Middle East and North Africa on authoritarian stability and dissent.

Stanford experts detail democratic decline, authoritarian trends in the Middle East

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Highlighting the experience of migrant domestic workers in the Arab Gulf region

Professor Lisa Blaydes examines the treatment of migrant domestic workers in Arab Gulf states as part of the King Center’s initiative on gender-based violence.

Highlighting the experience of migrant domestic workers in the Arab Gulf region

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War and the Arab World: Regional Responses and Consequences

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 | 4:00 PM -Tuesday, March 3, 2026 | 5:15 PM

What does the U.S.–Israel war with Iran mean for the Arab world? How are Arab states responding, and what political, economic, and humanitarian consequences might emerge from a prolonged conflict?

The Program on Arab Reform and Development convenes a panel of scholars — Sean Yom, Lisa Blaydes, and Hesham Sallam — to examine the regional implications of the war, situating current developments within broader historical and geopolitical transformations shaping the region today.

SPEAKERS

Sean Yom

Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple University and Senior Fellow at Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN)

Sean Yom is Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple University and Senior Fellow at Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN). His research explores the dynamics of authoritarian institutions, economic development, and US foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Jordan, Morocco, and the Gulf. His most recent books include Jordan: Politics in an Accidental Crucible (Oxford University Press, 2025) and The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research since the Arab Uprisings (co-edited with Marc Lynch and Jillian Schwedler; Oxford University Press, 2022).; Oxford University Press, 2022). He sits on the editorial board of the International Journal of Middle East Studies and the editorial committee of Middle East Report. He is also a former Stanford CDDRL Postdoctoral Fellow (2009-10). AB, Brown University (2003); PhD, Harvard University (2009).

Lisa Blaydes

Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University

Lisa's full bio

Lisa Blaydes is a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. She is the author of State of Repression: Iraq under Saddam Hussein (Princeton University Press, 2018) and Elections and Distributive Politics in Mubarak’s Egypt (Cambridge University Press, 2011). Professor Blaydes received the 2009 Gabriel Almond Award for best dissertation in the field of comparative politics from the American Political Science Association for this project. Her articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Middle East Journal, and World Politics. During the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years, Professor Blaydes was an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. She holds degrees in Political Science (PhD) from the University of California, Los Angeles, and International Relations (BA, MA) from Johns Hopkins University.

Hesham Sallam

Senior Research Scholar and Associate Director for Research, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Associate Director of the Program on Arab Reform and Development

Hesham's full bio

Hesham Sallam is a Senior Research Scholar at CDDRL, where he serves as Associate Director for Research. He is also Associate Director of the Program on Arab Reform and Development. Sallam is co-editor of Jadaliyya ezine and a former program specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace. His research focuses on political and social development in the Arab World. Sallam’s research has previously received the support of the Social Science Research Council and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is author of Classless Politics: Islamist Movements, the Left, and Authoritarian Legacies in Egypt (Columbia University Press, 2022), co-editor of Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World (University of Michigan Press, 2022), and editor of Egypt's Parliamentary Elections 2011-2012: A Critical Guide to a Changing Political Arena (Tadween Publishing, 2013). Sallam received a Ph.D. in Government (2015) and an M.A. in Arab Studies (2006) from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh (2003).

Registration for Stanford affiliates

Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to the William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall may attend in person.

Sean Yom

N/A

CDDRL Hewlett Fellow 2009-2010

YOM_webphoto.jpg PhD

Sean Yom finished his Ph.D. at the Department of Government at Harvard University in June 2009, with a dissertation entitled "Iron Fists in Silk Gloves: Building Political Regimes in the Middle East." His primary research explores the origins and durability of authoritarian regimes in this region. His work contends that initial social conflicts driven by strategic Western interventions shaped the social coalitions constructed by autocratic incumbents to consolidate power in the mid-twentieth century--early choices that ultimately shaped the institutional carapaces and political fates of these governments. While at CDDRL, he will revise the dissertation in preparation for book publication, with a focus on expanding the theory to cover other post-colonial regions and states. His other research interests encompass contemporary political reforms in the Arab world, the historical architecture of Persian Gulf security, and US democracy promotion in the Middle East. Recent publications include articles in the Journal of Democracy, Middle East Report, Arab Studies Quarterly, and Arab Studies Journal.

Sean Yom

Lisa Blaydes

Encina Hall West, Room 408
Stanford, CA 94305-6044

(650) 723-0649

blaydes@stanford.edu

Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Professor of Political Science

lisa_blaydes_108_vert_final.jpg

Lisa Blaydes is a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. She is the author of State of Repression: Iraq under Saddam Hussein (Princeton University Press, 2018) and Elections and Distributive Politics in Mubarak’s Egypt (Cambridge University Press, 2011). Professor Blaydes received the 2009 Gabriel Almond Award for best dissertation in the field of comparative politics from the American Political Science Association for this project. Her articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Middle East Journal, and World Politics. During the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years, Professor Blaydes was an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. She holds degrees in Political Science (PhD) from the University of California, Los Angeles, and International Relations (BA, MA) from Johns Hopkins University.

Affiliated faculty at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law

Affiliated faculty at the Center for International Security and Cooperation

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Lisa Blaydes

Hesham Sallam

Encina Hall, E105
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

hsallam@stanford.edu

Senior Research Scholar

hesham_sallam_thumbnail_image_for_cddrl_1-2_copy.jpg

Hesham Sallam is a Senior Research Scholar at CDDRL, where he serves as Associate Director for Research. He is also Associate Director of the Program on Arab Reform and Development. Sallam is co-editor of Jadaliyya ezine and a former program specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace. His research focuses on political and social development in the Arab World. Sallam’s research has previously received the support of the Social Science Research Council and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is author of Classless Politics: Islamist Movements, the Left, and Authoritarian Legacies in Egypt (Columbia University Press, 2022), co-editor of Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World (University of Michigan Press, 2022), and editor of Egypt's Parliamentary Elections 2011-2012: A Critical Guide to a Changing Political Arena (Tadween Publishing, 2013). Sallam received a Ph.D. in Government (2015) and an M.A. in Arab Studies (2006) from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh (2003).

Associate Director for Research, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law

Associate Director, Program on Arab Reform and Development

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Hesham Sallam

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Sun, 03/01/2026 - 18:49

Kingdom of Crossroads: Jordan’s Politics and the Future of Arab Democracy

Wednesday, March 4, 2026 | 12:00 PM -Wednesday, March 4, 2026 | 1:15 PM

Drawing from the author’s latest book, Jordan: Politics in an Accidental Crucible (Oxford University Press, 2025), this talk explores how the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan incubates the historical struggle for democracy in the Arab world. Here, the authoritarian monarchy has never suffered revolution or regime change. Yet the economy struggles, there is neither water nor oil, and perpetual protests punctuate the streets. An invention of British colonialism, the kingdom’s fragile borders are still buffeted by refugee crises and regional conflict, and its geopolitical fate has become encaged by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Through it all, Jordan’s past and present deliver astonishing narratives of democratic resilience. Opposition forces within society have long battled to transform their autocratic regime—only to be blunted by repression, statecraft, and Western interests. Yet these dreams and demands persist today, making Jordan a surprising fulcrum for the balance of democracy in the Middle East.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Hesham Sallam

Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456

Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall may attend in person.

Sean Yom Associate Professor of Political Science Presenter Temple University

Seminars

Wednesday, March 4, 12:00 - 1:15 pm. Click here to register.

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Fri, 08/23/2024 - 14:03

Palestinian Statehood and the War in Gaza

Read more about Palestinian Statehood and the War in Gaza

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Tue, 04/30/2024 - 12:00

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Salam Fayyad, a former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, told a Stanford audience that a peaceful outcome of the Gaza War depends on a principled two-state solution that recognizes Palestinian rights at the outset.

Fayyad engaged in a conversation on April 29 with Larry Diamond and Hesham Sallam at an event hosted by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law’s (CDDRL) Program on Arab Reform and Democracy (ARD). Diamond is the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and director of the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy, and Sallam is a CDDRL senior research scholar and associate director for the program.

The problem, Fayyad said, is that a two-state solution has never been defined with adequate precision. “Part of this is to be expected if something is going to be the product of negotiations,” as was not the case in prior years with proposals such as the Oslo Accords.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinian militants led by Hamas attacked Israel, killing almost 1,200 people, and Israel responded by launching an invasion of Gaza that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians as of April 2024. With the war ongoing for seven months now, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict goes back many decades to 1948, when Israel was established. The question now is, what does the future hold for Gaza, the Palestinian people, Israel, and stability in the Middle East?

Fayyad raised the issue of what the key organizing principle to determine a future State of Palestine and a peaceful solution with Israel could be.

He said, “That process must be preceded by formal recognition of our rights as a people, our national rights. It's very important. Oslo was not about that. Oslo was very transactional.”

‘Voices in these discussions’

Sallam, a moderator, said in an email prior to the event that “the ongoing war has caused a grave humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza with tens of thousands of deaths, a serious risk of famine, and a pressing public health crisis. It is important for us to advance as many conversations as possible about how we got to this reality and how we can find a peaceful exit out of it. And it is imperative to elevate and center Palestinian voices in these discussions.”

He added, “Dr. Fayyad’s visit to CDDRL’s Program on Arab Reform and Democracy promises to shed light on a host of pressing questions that the Stanford community has been grappling with since last year. It is a timely opportunity to learn, engage, and deliberate.”

It is important for us to advance as many conversations as possible about how we got to this reality and how we can find a peaceful exit out of it. And it is imperative to elevate and center Palestinian voices in these discussions.

Hesham Sallam

Associate Director, Program on Arab Reform and Democracy

Fayyad is an economist who served as minister of finance for the Palestinian Authority from 2002 to 2005 and as prime minister from 2007 to 2013. During his tenure, he introduced a number of economic and governance reforms. Afterward, he founded "Future for Palestine," a nonprofit development foundation. He also worked for the International Monetary Fund, including as the resident representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Currently, he is a Visiting Senior Scholar and Daniella Lipper Coules '95 Distinguished Visitor in Foreign Affairs at the Princeton School of Public Affairs. He is also a distinguished statesman at the Atlantic Council and a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Recognition of Rights

Fayyad said that the recognition of Palestinian rights is critical to any future negotiations. “One of the key lessons learned is that it's a mistake to engage in a problematic process that is not defined well in terms of outcome – what it is supposed to lead to if it is not based particularly from our point of view, or on recognition of our national rights as a people? Because so far, we have gotten none of that.”

He added, “I, like many Palestinians, would find it reasonable to engage in a process that could take us there in agreement and through negotiation.”

Fayyad said that if Palestinians' interests and those of all countries in the region are ultimately to live in peace and sustainable harmony, then the process must be recalibrated. “It has to be more principled.”

Asymmetry and Conflict History

Fayyad said that asymmetry exists between Palestinians and Israelis. “You see this everywhere, in terms of power relations, you see it everywhere, all facets of life. You see it on college campuses; you see it everywhere.”

For example, he said that Israel, over 75 years, has built a strong, vibrant economy with a strong military. “So, to deny people (Palestinians) the right to self-determination, which is a right that is absolute for us under international law, just like any other people anywhere in the world,” is asymmetrical.

He noted, “It is equally important, if not more important, for us Palestinians to understand that just because we are the weaker party in this balance of power … that we must actively assume full agency in the act of our liberation. We must.”

It is equally important, if not more important, for us Palestinians to understand that just because we are the weaker party in this balance of power … that we must actively assume full agency in the act of our liberation. We must.

Salam Fayyad

Former Prime Minister, Palestinian Authority

During the conversation, Diamond told Fayyad, “Everything you've talked about was challenging enough on Oct. 6.” But, he asked, how have the last seven months after a devastating terrorist attack affected everything, including the war in Gaza that has leveled much of the physical infrastructure of the country? “Where do we go from here?”

Fayyad described Oct. 7 as a “major shock” that has made a solution more difficult and distant than it already was. He added that Israel’s response to eliminate Hamas is likely impossible to extremely unlikely.

A Sisyphean Task

Our freedom is an inalienable right, Fayyad said about the Palestinian people, and it's an inseparable component of them as human beings.

“As human beings and members of the human race, like everyone, we have that to share with everyone else. You have to have that kind of recalibration.”

Future conversations between Palestinians and Israelis have to begin from the recognition that two equal parties exist to this disagreement, he said. “Not the oppressor, not the oppressed, not the master and the slave. Not the master and the surrogate.”

Fayyad compared the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to a Sisyphean task of sorts.

“But I never really understood Sisyphus to be an exercise in futility myself,” he said. “You learn something every time that boulder rolls back on. It's really about empowerment. That’s why it is most inspiring to try it. Even if you fail, even if you know you’re going to fail, you learn from it, you learn from it, and you keep pushing that boulder up the hill. There will come a point in time when the stars align for that which is just.”

The Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University examines the different social and political dynamics within Arab countries and the evolution of their political systems, focusing on the prospects, conditions, and possible pathways for democratic reform in the region.

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Survey sheds light on Palestinian views ahead of Hamas attack on Israel

Stanford’s Program on Arab Reform and Democracy – housed at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law – hosted an event last Wednesday to discuss the Arab Barometer’s most recent survey, which concluded just as Hamas conducted its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Survey sheds light on Palestinian views ahead of Hamas attack on Israel

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Dr. Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, in conversation with Larry Diamond, FSI's Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy, at an event hosted by CDDRL's Program on Arab Reform and Democracy.

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Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, spoke about the quest for peace and Palestinian statehood during a conversation on the Palestinian people, the Gaza War, and the conflict’s implications for stability in the Middle East, hosted by CDDRL’s Program on Arab Reform and Democracy.

The Challenges of Governance in the Arab World

Thursday, March 7, 2024 | 4:00 PM -Thursday, March 7, 2024 | 5:15 PM

This talk overviews the state of governance in the Arab world and the conditions undermining governance improvement in the countries of the region, including corruption, rentier states, and social factionalism. The talk situates these realities in different conceptions and measurements of governance, including those informed by historical, governmental, economic, and sociocultural perspectives. Finally, it reflects on the prospects for a "governance renaissance" in the Arab world.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Raed H. Charafeddine was first vice-governor at Banque du Liban, Lebanon’s central bank, from April 2009 till March 2019 and served as alternate Governor for Lebanon at the International Monetary Fund. An expert in financial markets, his career spans thirty-five years in central and commercial banking. He is currently a partner and executive board director of Vita F&B Capital, a MEA-focused strategic advisory firm. Charafeddine served as a board member and advisor for several NGOs that focus on alleviating poverty, improving education, healthcare, social justice, and women's empowerment. He was also a volunteer consultant for the United Nations Development Program in Beirut on conflict transformation. He holds a BA and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Hesham Sallam

Encina Hall E008 (Garden Level, East)
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305

This is an in-person event.

Raed H. Charafeddine

Seminars

Date Label

Fri, 03/20/2026 - 10:52

Floundering Stability: US Foreign Policy in Egypt

Monday, November 6, 2023 | 12:00 PM -Monday, November 6, 2023 | 1:15 PM

Amir Magdy Kamel joins ARD to discuss his recently released book, Floundering Stability: US Foreign Policy in Egypt (University of Michigan Press, 2023).

The United States has a record of pursuing global stability through international relations. This commitment is reflected in a US type of foreign policy that uses economic tools to pursue stability goals. To better understand the effectiveness of this notion, this talk will unpack the conceptual and contextual foundations of what Amir Magdy Kamel refers to as the US ‘Stability Policy’—how it evolved over time and how it was implemented in Egypt. From here, Kamel will reflect on what his book’s findings demonstrate for the relationship between economics and stability, along with how and why the stability policy performed the way it did in Egypt.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Amir Magdy Kamel currently holds visiting roles at Stanford University and the University of San Francisco. He is also an Associate Professor in the School of Security Studies and a Fellow in the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London. His research projects focus on two areas: political and economic issues across the Middle East, including EU and US foreign policy towards the region, and transformative technologies and how they impact states and policymaking. Dr. Kamel also has over a decade of experience providing advice, analysis, and consultations to various government agencies, economic consultancies, and NGOs.

Hesham Sallam

Encina Hall E008 (Garden Level, East)
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305

This is an in-person event.

Amir Magdy Kamel

Seminars

Date Label

Fri, 03/27/2026 - 11:58

The Market for Ayatollahs

Thursday, April 27, 2023 | 12:00 PM -Thursday, April 27, 2023 | 1:15 PM

Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran – the two preeminent centers of Twelver Shi‘ite legal education and learning in the world – are typically described as being in competition with one another for ideological influence and to host the most widely followed ayatollahs.

This talk offers a different interpretation of Shi‘ite religious authority. The relationship between Najaf and Qom is analyzed as a duopoly, a market structure in which two interdependent firms dominate. These seminaries compete to prevent either from monopolizing Shi‘ite religious authority. But they also collude to 1) protect their market share by preventing the emergence of rival centers, and 2) preserve Shi‘ite clerics’ exclusive authority to extract religious rents from believers by suppressing doctrinal and popular movements that might challenge the Usuli school that dominates Twelver Shi‘ism today. This collusive behavior in the religious marketplace stifles innovation and explains why no Shi‘ite version of salafism has developed.

This talk is hosted in partnership with CDDRL's Program on Arab Reform and Democracy.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

David Siddhartha Patel is a senior fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. His research focuses on religious authority, social order, identity, and state-building in the contemporary Middle East. His first book, Order Out of Chaos: Islam, Information, and the Rise and Fall of Social Orders in Iraq (Cornell University Press), examines the role of mosques and clerical networks in generating order after state collapse and is based upon independent field research he conducted in Basra. Patel’s second book project, Defunct States of the Middle East, chronicles the more than two dozen territorial polities that disappeared from the map of the region after 1918: how they came to be, how they died, and how they are remembered today. Patel has also published articles or chapters on the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood; ISIS; Iraqi politics; and the transnational spread of protests during the Arab Uprisings. Before joining the Crown Center, Patel was an assistant professor of government at Cornell University. Patel holds a BA in economics and political science from Duke University and a PhD in political science from Stanford University.

Virtual to Public. Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to E008 in Encina Hall may attend in person.

Hesham Sallam

Virtual to Public. Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to E008 in Encina Hall may attend in person.

David Patel

Seminars

Date Label

Mon, 03/23/2026 - 09:09

ARD Releases February-April 2020 Issue of Mofeed Digest

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Sat, 01/01/2022 - 12:00

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The Program on Arab Reform and Democracy (ARD) at CDDRL is pleased to announce the release of the February-April 2022 issue of Mofeed Digest, a periodic recap of the most important scholarly and policy publications, reports, and articles investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the politics, economies, and societies of the Arab world.

Mofeed Digest is a feature of the Mofeed Project, an initiative that builds foundational resources for understanding how the politics and societies of the Arab world have adapted in light of the pandemic. The Mofeed Project is supported in part by the Open Society Foundation.

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Mofeed Digest (Feb-April 2020)

The following digest summarizes the most important scholarly and policy publications, reports, and articles covering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the politics, economies, and societies of the Arab world. This issue of the Mofeed Digest was produced by Gheed El Bizri.

1. The current moment is not simply another regional crisis — it reflects the fragmentation of the Arab order itself.

2. The legacies of the post-9/11 era continue to shape U.S. policy toward the Middle East.

3. The authoritarian restoration after the Arab uprisings has become deeper and more punitive.

4. The Middle East’s crises are increasingly tied to a broader global rightward shift.

5. Historical perspective remains essential in moments of upheaval.

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Six Takeaways on the War and the Arab World

Syria in Transition: Historical Origins and Prospects

Stanford experts detail democratic decline, authoritarian trends in the Middle East

1. The War Reflects a Long Pattern of U.S. Intervention in the Region

2. U.S. Security Partnerships Can Make Arab States Targets

3. Arab Governments Are Trying to Avoid Being Seen as Participants in the War

4. A Regional War Threatens the Gulf’s Economic Transformation Projects

5. The War Is Occurring Amid Deep Divisions Among Regional Powers

6. War Strengthens Authoritarian Politics and Weakens the Prospect for Reform and Development

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Syria in Transition: Historical Origins and Prospects

Stanford experts detail democratic decline, authoritarian trends in the Middle East

Highlighting the experience of migrant domestic workers in the Arab Gulf region

SPEAKERS

Sean Yom

Lisa Blaydes

Hesham Sallam

‘Voices in these discussions’

Recognition of Rights

Asymmetry and Conflict History

A Sisyphean Task

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Survey sheds light on Palestinian views ahead of Hamas attack on Israel

Amir Magdy Kamel joins ARD to discuss his recently released book, Floundering Stability: US Foreign Policy in Egypt (University of Michigan Press, 2023).

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

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Mofeed Digest (Feb-April 2020)

MENA

Algeria

Bahrain

Comoros

Djibouti

Egypt

Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Libya

Mauritania

Morocco

Oman

Palestine

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Somalia

Sudan

Syria

Tunisia

UAE

Yemen

Follow Mofeed-19 on Social Media

Mofeed Digest (October 2022)

MENA

Algeria

Bahrain

Egypt

Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Libya

Morocco

Palestine

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Somalia

Sudan

Syria

Tunisia

UAE

Yemen