Bassam S. Haddad

Bassam S. Haddad

Bassam S. Haddad

Associate Professor

Political Economy of Development, Violence and Terrorism and US Foreign Policy, Syria, Authoritarian Rule

Bassam Haddad is the Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of the forthcoming book, A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine. Bassam is Co-Project Manager for the Salon Syria Project and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book tittled Understanding The Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).

Current Research

I am currently working on my second book, provisionally titled “Understanding the Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition, and Outsiders,” to be published by Stanford University Press. Generally, my research interests have both evolved and expanded considerably, but continue to center around three main areas: a) political economy of development (economic reform, authoritarianism, theories of the state, network analysis); b) violence, terrorism, and US foreign policy (before and during the advent of the “war on terror,”) and, of late, c) knowledge production and pedagogy. In various forms, I have tried to pursue this broad set of research interests, giving priority to my contribution to the dominant debates in political economy of development. My future research agenda will continue to evolve as I begin to conclude my focus on political economy of development, which is the subject of my third single-authored book, combining political history and political economy.

Selected Publications

“The Political Economy of Development in Syria, 1970-2010,” in Jens Hanssen and Amal Ghazal, eds. Handbook Of Contemporary Middle East History [Forthcoming, Oxford University Press].

Critical Voices, Bassam Haddad, and Ziad Abu-Rish, eds. (2015). Tadween Publishing.

Principal Co-Editor with Rosie Bsheer and Ziad Aburish, The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings: End of an Old Order? (London, Pluto Press, 2012)

Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2012).

“Syria, Authoritarian Rule, and the Uprising: A Political Science Perspective,” Arab Studies Journal, Vol XXI, No. I [Forthcoming, Winter 2013].

“Syria’s State Bourgeoisie: An Organic Backbone for the Regime,” Middle East Critique, Vol. 21, Issue 3 (Fall 2012).

“Syria, The Arab Uprisings, and The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience,” Interface Journal, Vol. 4 (1), 2012, pp. 113-130.

“Syria’s Stalemate: The Limits of Regime Resilience,” Middle East Policy, Vol. XIX, No. 1, Spring 2012, pp. 85-95.

“The Political Economy of Syria: Realities and Challenges,” Middle East Policy, Vol XVIII, No. 2, Summer 2011, pp. 46-61.

“The Political Economy of Development in Syria, 1970-2010,” in Jens Hanssen and Amal Ghazal, eds. Handbook Of Contemporary Middle East History (Forthcoming, Oxford University Press). [peer-review testimony]

“Business Associations and the New Nexus of Power in Syria,” in Paul Aarts and Francesco Cavatorta, eds. Civil Society in Syria and Iran: Activism in Authoritarian Contexts (Forthcoming, Lynne Reiner). [peer-review testimony]

“Behind the Resilience of the Syrian Regime,” David McMurray and Amanda Ufheil-Somers, eds., The 2011 Arab Uprisings (Forthcoming, Indiana University Press, 2012). [peer-review testimony]

“Enduring Legacies: The Politics of Private Sector Development in Syria,” in Demystifying Syria, ed Fred Lawson (London: SOAS-School of Oriental and African Studies, London Middle East Institute), pp. 29-55. [peer-review testimony]

“The Impact of Economic Networks on Economic and Fiscal Change in Syria: Institutional, Legal, and Social Basis of State-Business Networks,” in Networks of Privilege: The Politics of Economic Reform in the Middle East, ed Steven Heydemann (New York: Palgrave-St. Martin’s Press, 2004), pp. 39-78. [peer-review testimony]

Courses Taught

Introduction to Comparative Politics
Orientalism and Terrorism
Text, Film, and the Arab Uprisings
Politics and Society of the Arab World
The Politics of Economic Reform in the Middle East
Authoritarianism and Reform in the Middle East
Seminar: Contentious Themes in Middle East Studies/Politics
Graduate Seminar: Orientalism and Terrorism

Recent Presentations

Neoliberal Development in Syria: 1986-2010
http://www.questioningdevelopment2016.com/program-and-abstracts.html
Cornell, October 8, 2016

Competing Narratives on Syria amid International Escalation
http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/events/competing-narratives-syria-amid-international-escalation
Stanford, October 12, 2016

Beyond the Discursive Binary: Roots and Prospects of the Syrian Uprising
http://cmes.berkeley.edu/beyond-the-discursive-binary-roots-and-prospects-of-the-syrian-uprising-3/
UC Berkeley, October 18, 2016

Syria’s Binary Trap
http://meis.gmu.edu/articles/10014
George Mason Univeristy, October 24, 2016

In the Media

The Debate in Syria Has Reached a Dead End
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-debate-over-syria-has-reached-a-dead-end/The Nation, October 18, 2016

Visual Media
Democracy Now Show on Syria
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/27/bassam_haddad_we_have_a_duty
October 27, 2016