On Sunday 16 October 2022, the Unit of State & Political Systems Studies at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies hosted the launch of the book The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research since the Arab Uprisings, an important volume co-edited by Marc Lynch (George Washington University), Jillian Schwedler (City University of New York, Hunter College), and Sean Yom (Temple University).

The book represents a unique stock-taking of the Political Science of the Middle East over the past 30 years. Nearly 50 academics, from the US and Canada, Europe, and the Arab World and belonging to various subdisciplines, different theoretical and methodological orientations, and across different career stages contributed to the volume. The objective of this collaborative effort was to provide a broad overview of the discipline and ensure that no particular theoretical framework dominated the substance of the text.

As the co-editors explained, each chapter engaged critically with the literature pertaining to a specific theme, highlighted new insights produced during the past decade, and posed fresh questions for a future research agenda. The most prominent themes addressed in the book are international relations and regional insecurity; identity and sectarian politics; armies, militias, and violence; political economy and development; public opinion methodologies; protests; and migration and displacement. Urgent concerns such as interdisciplinarity, historical context, gender, and colonialism cut-across all chapters of the book. The editors also emphasised the significance of the participation of many scholars from the region in the making of this timely volume. After all, giving voice to regional scholars in a primary objective of the Project on Middle East Political Science, the chief incubator of the book.

The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research since the Arab Uprisings is currently being translated into Arabic by the ACRPS. This, in turn, will advance the cause of creating a truly creative dialogue between Political Science of the Middle East and Political Science from the Middle East. The session concluded with questions from the audience, including Arab Center researchers, Doha Institute faculty and students, and viewers on social media platforms.