Paul Salem a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI). He previously served as MEI’s president and CEO and as vice president for international engagement. His research focuses on political change, democracy and governance, social and economic policy, as well as regional and international relations in the Middle East.
Prior to joining MEI, Dr. Salem was the founding director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, Lebanon (2006–2013). From 1999 to 2006, he served as director of the Fares Foundation, and earlier founded and led the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (1989–1999), Lebanon’s premier public policy think tank.
Dr. Salem is the author and editor of several books and reports, including Escaping the Conflict Trap: Toward Ending Civil Wars in the Middle East (Middle East Institute, 2019), Winning the Battle, Losing the War: Addressing the Conditions that Fuel Armed Non-State Actors (Middle East Institute, 2019), and From Chaos to Cooperation: Toward Regional Order in the Middle East (Middle East Institute, 2017). His earlier works include Broken Orders: The Causes and Consequences of the Arab Uprisings (in Arabic, 2013), Bitter Legacy: Ideology and Politics in the Arab World (1994), and Conflict Resolution in the Arab World (ed., 1997).
Dr. Salem is also a musician and composer of Arabic-Brazilian jazz, with his music available on iTunes. He writes regularly on his Substack blog, Thinking Middle East.
He holds a BA, MA, and PhD from Harvard University.
Contact Information
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Twitter Handle: @paul_salem
