Bassel F. Salloukh is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Lebanese American University, Beirut. His current research looks at post-conflict power-sharing arrangements, the challenge of re-assembling the political orders and societies of post-uprisings Arab states, and the geopolitics of the Middle East after the popular uprisings. He is author, co-author, and co-editor of a number of books, chapters, and journal articles, including The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon (Pluto Press, 2015), Beyond the Arab Spring: Authoritarianism and Democratization in the Arab World (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012), Mapping the Political Landscape: An Introduction to Political Science, 2nd edition (Nelson Publishers, 2007), and Persistent Permeability: Regionalism, Localism, and Globalization in the Middle East (Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004). Salloukh is a member of the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) Steering Committee, a member of the American Political Science Association (APSA) MENA Workshops Planning Committee, a Research Fellow at the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies (LCPS), and Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Interuniversity Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES), McGill University. He is a contributor to policy journals and on-line academic forums and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, Washington Post’s the Monkey Cage, openDemocracy, and the Middle East Institute. He tweets at @bassel67.
Key Publications
Books
- The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon (co-authored with Rabie Barakat, Jinan S. Al-Habbal, Lara W. Khattab, and Shoghig Mikaelian). London: Pluto Press, 2015.
- Beyond the Arab Spring: Authoritarianism and Democratization in the Arab World (co-authored with Rex Brynen, Pete W. Moore, and Marie-Joëlle Zahar). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012.
- Mapping the Political Landscape: An Introduction to Political Science 2nd edition, (co-authored with Reeta Tremblay, Andre Lecours, Francesca Scala, Csaba Nikolenyi). Toronto: Nelson Publishers, 2007.
- Persistent Permeability: Regionalism, Localism, and Globalization in the Middle East (co-editor and contributor with Rex Brynen). London: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004.
Journal Articles
- “Transforming Power Sharing: From Corporate to Hybrid Consociation in Postwar Lebanon,” (co-authored with Renko A. Verheij) Middle East Law and Governance 9, 2, (2017): 147-173.
- “Overlapping Contests and Middle East International Relations: The Return of the Weak Arab State,” PS: Political Science and Politics 50, 3, (July 2017): 660-663.
- “The Syrian War: Spillover Effects on Lebanon,” Middle East Policy 24, 1, (Spring 2017): 62-78.
- “Elite Strategies, Civil Society, and Sectarian Identities in Postwar Lebanon,” (with Janine Clark) International Journal of Middle East Studies 45, 4, (November 2013): 731-749.
- “The Arab Uprisings and the Geopolitics of the Middle East,” The International Spectator 48, 2, (June 2013): 32-46.
- “Struggles under Authoritarianism: Regimes, States, and Professional Associations in the Arab World,” (with Pete W. Moore) International Journal of Middle East Studies 39, 1, (February 2007): 53-76.
- “The Limits of Electoral Engineering in Divided Societies: Elections in Postwar Lebanon,” Canadian Journal of Political Science 39, 3, (September 2006): 635-655.
- “Syria and Lebanon: A Brotherhood Transformed,” Middle East Report 236, (Fall 2005): 14-21.
- “Studying Arab Politics: The End of Ideology or the Search for Alternative Methods?” Critique No. 10, (Spring 1997): 109-125.
- “State Strength, Permeability, and Foreign Policy Behavior: Jordan in Theoretical Perspective,” Arab Studies Quarterly 18, 2, (Spring 1996): 39-65.
Book Chapters
- “A New Grand Bargain for the Middle East: The Search for a New Consociational and Geopolitical Order,” in Michael Wahid Hanna and Thanassis Cambanis, eds., Order from Ashes: New Foundations for Security in the Middle East (New York: The Century Foundation, 2018): 215-229.
- “The Architecture of Sectarianization in Lebanon,” in Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, eds., Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017): 215-234.
- “The Sectarianization of Geopolitics in the Middle East,” in Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, eds., Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017): 35-52.
- “Strong Actor in a Weak State: The Geopolitics of Hezbollah,” (with Shoghig Mikaelian) in Mehran Kamrava, ed., Fragile Politics: Weak States in the Greater Middle East (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016): 119-143.
- “The Arab World after the Popular Uprisings: A Spirit Restored?” in Kirsten Fisher and Robert Stewart, eds., Transitional Justice and the Arab Spring (London: Routledge, 2014): 17-35.
- “Hizbullah in Lebanon,” (with Shoghig Mikaelian) in John L. Esposito and Emad Shahin, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013): 516-531.
- “Remaking Lebanon after Syria: The Rise and Fall of Proxy Authoritarianism,” in Holger Albrecht, ed., Contentious Politics in the Middle East and North Africa (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2010): 205-228.
- “Democracy in Lebanon: The Primacy of the Sectarian System,” in Nathan Brown and Emad El-Din Shahin, eds., The Struggle over Democracy in the Middle East (London: Routledge Press, 2009): 134-150.
- “Demystifying Syrian Foreign Policy under Bashar,” in Fred H. Lawson, ed., Demystifying Syria (London: Saqi Books, 2009): 159-179.
- “The Art of the Impossible: The Foreign Policy of Lebanon,” in Bahgat Korany and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki, eds., The Foreign Policies of Arab States: The Challenge of Globalization, New Revised Edition (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2009): 283-317.
Op-Eds, Policy Reports, Blogs, & Other Publications
- “Romanticizing Paris IV,” Featured Analysis - The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS), March 2018, at: https://lcps-lebanon.org/featuredArticle.php?id=137.
- “The Pleasures of Sectarianism,” Featured Analysis - The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS), February 2018, at: https://www.lcps-lebanon.org/featuredArticle.php?id=131.
- “Lebanon’s Enduring Contradictions,” openDemocracy, 11 October 2017, at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/bassel-f-salloukh/lebanon-s-enduring-contradictions-0.
- “The Heart of Lebanon’s Rural Darkness,” The New Arab, 28 June 2017, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2017/6/28/the-heart-of-lebanons-rural-darkness.
- “The US and IS: Weaving Conspiracy Theories in Reverse,” The New Arab, 30 March 2017, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2017/3/30/the-us-and-is-weaving-conspiracy-theories-in-reverse.
- “‘Radical Islam’: The Default Demon,” The New Arab, 17 February 2017, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2017/2/17/radical-islam-the-default-demon.
- “Obama’s other Legacy in the Middle East,” The New Arab, 20 January 2017, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2017/1/20/obamas-other-legacy-in-the-middle-east.
- “The Crisis of Power-sharing in Post-Syria Lebanon,” Featured Analysis - The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS), December 2016, at: http://lcps-lebanon.org/featuredArticle.php?id=97.
- “2016: Dehumanising the Arabs... Again, The New Arab, 28 December 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/12/28/2016-dehumanising-the-arabs-again.
- “Ziad Rahbani’s ‘A Long American Movie’: A Timely Release,” The New Arab, 17 November 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/11/17/ziad-rahbanis-a-long-american-movie-a-timely-release.
- “How Neoliberalism defeated itself in Lebanon,” The New Arab, 27 September 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/9/30/how-neoliberalism-defeated-itself-in-lebanon.
- “The Capitalism of our Times,” The New Arab, 24 August 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/8/24/the-capitalism-of-our-times.
- “How to break the Middle East’s Sectarian Spiral,” Washington Post, Monkey Cage Blog, 8 August 2016, at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/08/08/how-to-break-the-middle-easts-sectarian-spiral/.
- “Who speaks for Syrians?” The New Arab, 8 August 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/8/8/who-speaks-for-syrians.
- “Overcoming our Underdevelopment,” The New Arab, 22 July 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/7/22/overcoming-our-underdevelopment.
- “What America can’t do in the Arab World,” The New Arab, 26 May 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/5/26/knowing-your-limits-american-influence-in-the-arab-world.
- “We are All Beirut Madinati,” The New Arab, 11 May 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/5/11/we-are-all-beirut-madinati.
- “Die Ergebnisse Des Arabischen Frühlings Nach Den Volksaufständen,” in Daniel Gerlach et. al, eds., Atlas Eine Des Weltregion Arabischen Im Frühlings Umbruch (Berlin: Bundeszentrale Für Politische Bildung, April 2016): 204-206.
- “The ‘Lebanese Origins’ of the World,” The New Arab, 27 April 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/4/27/the-lebanese-origins-of-the-world.
- “The End of the Arab Affair,” The New Arab, 28 March 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/3/28/the-end-of-the-arab-affair.
- “The Banana Republic of Lebanon,” The New Arab, 7 March 2016, at: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/3/7/the-banana-republic-of-lebanon.
- “Ziad Rahbani’s ‘What About Tomorrow?’ – Today,” The New Arab, 17 February 2016, at: http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english//Comment/2016/2/17/Ziad-Rahbanis-What-about-tomorrow-today.
- “The Importance of Being Earnest about Sectarianism,” The New Arab, 3 February 2016, at: http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/2/3/the-importance-of-being-earnest-about-sectarianism.
- “End of a Year; End of a Political Era,” The New Arab, 30 December 2015, at: http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2015/12/30/a-year-that-ends-a-political-era.
- “How ISIS Provincialised Europe,” openDemocracy, 7 December 2015, at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/bassel-f-salloukh/how-isis-provincialised-europe.
- “The Other Victims of IS Violence,” The New Arab, 18 November 2015, at: http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2015/11/18/the-other-victims-of-is-violence/.
- “Lebanese Protesters United against Garbage… and Sectarianism,” Washington Post, Monkey Cage Blog, 14 September 2015, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/09/14/lebanese-protesters-united-against-garbage-and-sectarianism/.
- “Sectarianism and the Search for New Political Orders in the Arab World,” Middle East Institute, 17 July 2015, at: http://www.mei.edu/content/map/sectarianism-and-search-new-political-orders-arab-world.
- “The Disciplinary Violence of Sectarianism in Lebanon,” Pluto Press Blog, 14 July 2015, at: https://plutopress.wordpress.c...
- “Sect Supreme: The End of Realist Politics in the Middle East,” Foreign Affairs.com, 14 July 2014, at: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/...
- “Lebanon – Where next for Hezbollah: Resistance or Reform?” in Alexander Ramsbotham and Achim Wennmann, eds., Legitimacy and Peace Processes: From Coercion to Consent Accord Issue 25 (London: Conciliation Resources, April 2014): 100-104.
- Al-Takamul al-‘Arabi: Sabilan li-Nahda Insaniya (Beirut: UN-ESCWA, 2014): Contributor.
- “Education and Reconciling Our Differences.” LAU Magazine 16, 1, (Winter 2014), p. 31, at: http://www.lau.edu.lb/magazine...
- “The Geopolitics of the Struggle for Syria,” e-International Relations, 23 September 2013, at: http://www.e-ir.info/2013/09/2...
- Lebanon: Democracy and Governance Strategic Assessment, Management Systems International, Washington, 1 June 2011: Contributor.
- Lebanon Conflict Assessment, Management Systems International, Washington, 31 March 2010: Contributor.
- Expert Group Meeting on Development under Crisis Conditions, UNESCWA, Beirut, 15 September 2006: Lead author.
- “The Arab State System after the Invasion of Iraq,” in M. Martellini and R. Redaelli, eds., Towards a Multilateral Regional Security Arrangement for the Middle East (Como: LNCV Publications, 2005): 47-62.