All of the Arab Center’s activities are overseen by a Board of Directors composed of distinguished academics, selected for their combined experience and academic expertise. In each session, the Board of Directors discusses the general plan for the Center, its annual budget and the reports produced across departments. The board identifies weaknesses and plans to overcome them, along with steps that should be taken to enhance the continuous development and effectiveness of the Center, in line with its mission.
Prominent Arab intellectual, political philosopher, and researcher with numerous books and academic publications on political thought, social theory and philosophy. He was named by Le Nouveau Magazine Littéraire as one of the world’s most influential thinkers. His latest books are The Question of the State: Philosophy, Theory, and Context (2023) with a second volume titled The Arab State: Beginnings and Evolution (2024); and Palestine: Matters of Truth and Justice (2024), originally released in English in 2022 by Hurst Publishers in London, published concurrently with The Flood: The War on Palestine in Gaza (2024).
Bishara’s publications in Arabic, some of which have become key references within their respective field, include Civil Society: A Critical Study (1996); From the Jewishness of the State to Sharon (2004); On The Arab Question: An Introduction to an Arab Democratic Manifesto (2007); To Be an Arab in Our Times (2009); On Revolution and Susceptibility to Revolution (2012); Religion and Secularism in Historical Context (in 3 vols., 2013, 2015); The Army and Political Power in the Arab Context: Theoretical Problems (2017); The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Daesh): A General Framework and Critical Contribution to Understanding the Phenomenon (2018); What is Populism? (2019); and Democratic Transition and its Problems: Theoretical Lessons from Arab Experiences (2020).
His English publications include On Salafism: Concepts and Contexts (Stanford University Press, 2022); Sectarianism without Sects (Oxford University Press, 2021); and his trilogy on the Arab revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, published by I.B. Tauris, Understanding Revolutions: Opening Acts in Tunisia (2021); Egypt: Revolution, Failed Transition and Counter-Revolution (2022); and Syria 2011-2013: Revolution and Tyranny before the Mayhem (2023), in which he provides a rich theoretical analysis in addition to a comprehensive and lucid assessment of the revolutions in three Arab countries.
Bishara serves as the General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
Social and Economic Development Expert. Al-Khatib graduated from the American University of Beirut before joining the Ministry of Planning as Head of Private Sector Partnerships. She then moved to the German Development Agency in 1990 as Director of the Women’s Program. In 1992, she was appointed Director of the National Program at the UN Development Fund for Women. In 1997, she was selected to lead the Public Sector Reform Program at the World Bank. She served as Director General of the Jordan River Foundation from 2000 to 2007 and as Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Jordan from 2007 to 2010. She subsequently served as a member of the Senate until 2013, before being appointed as Chief Commissioner of the Development and Free Zones Commission.
She currently chairs the Board of Directors of the Justice Center for Legal Aid, is a board member of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, and is a founding member of the Board of Directors of AARDi, an international organization against apartheid and racial discrimination. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jordanian National Committee for Women's Affairs. In 2015, she was selected as one of the 100 most influential figures in the development sector worldwide by the United Nations Global Forum and the World of Difference.
Ghanim Al-Najjar is a professor of political science at Kuwait University and a member of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS)'s Board of Directors. Previously, he was a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, served as director of the Center for Strategic and Future Studies, and was the editor of the Gulf Studies Series Journal, United Arab Emirates. Dr. Al-Najjar has been a visiting scholar at several universities, including Harvard's Human Rights Program, Law School, and the Kennedy School of Government. Until recently, he was the UN independent expert for Human Rights in Somalia, a mandate he held for 8 years. Dr. Al-Najjar headed and participated in a number of international fact-finding missions in several countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, and Somalia.
Dr. Al-Najjar is the founder of the Centre for Strategic and Future Studies in Kuwait University. He is a member of the executive committee of the Arab Sociological Association, and a member of the board of the Arab Human Rights Fund based in Beirut, as well as an international commissioner with the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. Moreover, he is a member of the editorial boards of several academic journals. The publication "The Challenges Facing Kuwaiti Democracy", which appeared in the Middle East Journal, is one of many of his published works.
