Yasmina Abouzzohour

My research focuses on persistence and transition in different types of authoritarian systems, with an emphasis on understanding the role of regime-opposition interrelations in shaping regimes’ economic and political strategies during upheavals. Methodologically, I employ qualitative and mixed methods using semi-structured interviews, survey data, content analysis, and national datasets.

I am currently completing a book on Arab monarchical survival which investigates the causal mechanisms that allow monarchs to contain different types of dissent. My other major projects explore the impact of new forms of contestation on state-society relations in North Africa and the Arab Gulf, and the global economic and political implications of states’ institutional and policy responses to COVID-19.

Prior to beginning my role at Harvard University, I earned a PhD from the University of Oxford and a BA from Columbia University, both in political science. I joined the Brookings Institution in 2019 and the European Council on Foreign Relations in 2021; and I have experience advising NGOs, IGOs, government agencies, and stakeholders.