Ziad Majed
Associate Professor, Program Coordinator for Middle East Pluralities
- Department: History and Politics
- Graduate Program(s): International Affairs, International Affairs, Conflict Resolution and Civil Society Development, Diplomacy and International Law
- Personal Website:

Professor Majed is the Elliott E. Burdette Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and teaches Middle East studies and writes on Lebanese, Syrian and Arab affairs as well as on regional political transitions and crises. Since 1994, he has been involved in research work and reform campaigns related to political processes and civil society causes in Lebanon and other Arab countries. For the last twenty years, Majed has been regularly publishing articles and papers in Arabic (in Now Lebanon, Al-Quds al-Arabi, Al-Hayat, Aljazeera Center, the Journal for Palestine Studies, Daraj and Megaphone) and in French (in L'Orient Littéraire, Mediapart, Le Monde, L'Express, Libération and AOC).
He is a board member in Lebanese, Syrian and French cultural institutes and organizations, and a lecturer in international festivals and annual conferences.
Education/Degrees
- PhD in Political Sciences, IEP - Sciences-Po, Paris
- DEA in Political Sciences, IEP - Sciences-Po, Paris
- MA in Arabic Literature, the Americain University of Beirut
- BA in Economics, the American University of Beirut
Publications
Books
Dans la tĂȘte de Bachar Al-Assad, with Subhi Hadidi and Farouk Mardam-Bey, Actes Sud, Paris, 2018.
Iran and its four Arab fronts, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, 2017
Sourya, Al-thawra al-YatimaÌę(Syria, the Orphan Revolution), Sharq al-Kitab, Beirut, 2014 (In Arabic).
Syrie, La RĂ©volution Orpheline, Actes Sud et lâOrient des Livres, Paris, 2014.
âAn Rabiâ Bayrout wal Dawla AnnakissaÌę(On the Beirut Spring and the Unachieved State), Dar Annahar, Beirut, 2006. (In Arabic).
Editor,ÌęBuilding Democracy in Yemen: Women's Political Participation, Political Party Life and Democratic Elections, International IDEA, Stockholm, 2005.
Editor,ÌęBuilding Democracy in Jordan: Women's Political Participation, Political Party Life and Democratic Elections, International IDEA, Stockholm, 2005.
Editor,ÌęBuilding Democracy in Egypt: Women's Political Participation, Political Party Life and Democratic Elections, International IDEA, Stockholm, 2005.
Chapters in Books
Foreword to "Lettres Ă Samira", Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, Ăditions des LisiĂšres, Toulouse, 2021.
âLes mots des rĂ©volutionsâ inÌęIl Ă©tait une fois les revolutions, LâInstitut du Monde Arabe et Seuil, Paris 2021.
Foreword to "ł§Čâ°ùŸ±Čč:ÌęBorders, Boundaries, and the State", with Nassima Neggaz, edited byÌęMatthieu Cimino and published by Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 2020.
âRefugees in Jordan and Lebanonâ inÌęEscaping the Escape, Bertelsmann foundation, Berlin 2017.
âLes russes ont rĂ©ussi Ă inverser le rapport de forces militaireâ, inÌęSur laÌęrevolution syrienne,ÌęEditions La Lenteur, Paris 2017.
âIntroduction: A new foundational moment among conflicts and changing parametersâ inÌęPolitical developments in Arab countries since 2011, the Amercian University of Beirut and LâOrient des Livres, Beirut 2017.
âWhat are the challenges after Arab Revolutionsâ in Hassan Krayem, Ed.ÌęThe Arab Spring: Revolutions for Deliverance from Authoritarianism, The Arab Network for the Study of Democracy, Beirut 2014
"Consensus democracy and political representation" in Elizabeth Picard and Alexander Ramsbotham, Eds,ÌęReconciliation, reform and resilience: positive peace for Lebanon, Conciliation resources, London, 2012
âNew forms of cooperation?â inÌęThe Future of the Mediterranean, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Berlin, 2011.
Articles in Academic journals and policy papers published by research centers
âSyrie: revolution, barbarie et occupationsâ,ÌęConfluences, Paris 2021.
âLâagonie du consociativisme libanaisâ, AOC journal, Paris, October 2020.
âBeirutâs explosion and the death of a systemâ (Arabic), Journal for Palestine Studies, September 2020.
âThe French initiative in Lebanonâ (Arabic), Aljazeera Center for Studies, August 2020.
âThe necessary relation between resistance to Foreign Occupation and struggle against local despotismâÌę(Arabic), Journal for Palestine Studies, June 2019.
âTrump, the Golan heights and the violation of International LawâÌę(Arabic),ÌęAljazeera Center for Studies, May 2019.
âArab Normalization with Assadâs Syria as part of the counter-revolutionary processâÌę(Arabic), Aljazeera Center for Studies, February 2019.
âThe South-Syria Russian sponsored accordsâÌę(Arabic), Aljazeera Center for Studies, July 2018.
âSyria, the regime of violenceâÌę(French), AOC journal, Paris, December 2018.
âThe reasons for the Lebanese Saudi political crisisâÌę(Arabic), Aljazeera Center for Studies, February 2018.
âNew American and Russian approaches in Syria?â (Arabic),Ìęin Aljazeera Center for Studies, August 2017.
âLebanon, Saudi Arabia and the GulfâÌę(Arabic),Ìęin Aljazeera Center for Studies, March 2017.
âSyria after Aleppo: the Russian strategyâÌę(Arabic) in Aljazeera Center for Studies, September 2016.
âExistential crisis in Lebanonâ (French and Spanish), in Afkar/idĂ©es, Spring 2016, published by the Estudios de Politica Exterior (Madrid) and the Institut EuropĂ©en de la MĂ©diterranĂ©e (Barcelona).
âKurds in North East Syria: Internal calculations and external alliancesâ (Arabic), in Aljazeera Center for Studies, August 2015.
âThe evolution of Hezbollahâs involvement in SyriaâÌę(Arabic), in Aljazeera Center for Studies, June 2015.
âDemocracy in the Balance: The Complex Dynamics of the Arab World Make Outcomes Far from Certainâ, in Connections, Dayton, Ohio, 2014 (published by the Kettering Foundation).
âSixty four years since the Palestinian Nakbaâ (Arabic), in The Journal for Palestine Studies, issue 90, Spring 2012, Beirut
Hezbollah and the Lebanese Shiite community, The Aspen Insitute, Washington DC, 2010.
Translation
Yassin Al Haj Saleh,ÌęLa question syrienne,Ìę(Arabic to French, with Nadia Leila Aissaoui and Farouk Mardam Bey), Actes Sud, Paris 2016, (235 pages).
Affiliations
- Coordinator, The Arab Network for the Study of Democracy
- Opinion writer, Al-Quds Al-Arabi
Research Areas
- Consociational democracy
- Political transitions in the Middle East
- Political Islam
- Political reforms and electoral systems in the Arab countries
- State and Society in Lebanon and Syria
- The question of Palestine