Shadi Hamid is Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. His research focuses on Islamist political parties and democratic reform in the Arab world. Prior to joining Brookings, he was Director of Research at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.  He has also served as a program specialist on public diplomacy at the U.S. State Depart­ment and a Legislative Fellow at the Office of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Slate, Forbes, The National Interest, Policy Review, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, and many other publica­tions.  Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and his PhD in political science from Oxford University. He is currently Vice-Chair of POMED, a member of the World Bank’s MENA Advisory Panel, and a correspondent for The Atlantic