Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings and an assistant research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary. His latest book is “The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea” (Oxford University Press). He is also the author of "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World" (St. Martin's Press), which was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize. He is also co-editor with Will McCants of “Rethinking Political Islam” (Oxford University Press) and co-author of “Militants, Criminals, and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder” (Brookings Institution Press). His first book “Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East” (Oxford University Press) was named a Foreign Affairs "Best Book of 2014." Hamid is also a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a member of the Project on Middle East Democracy's board of directors. In 2019, he was named one of the world's top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine. Hamid received his Bachelor of Science and master's at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and his doctorate in political science at Oxford University.
Affiliations:
The Atlantic, contributing writer
EUSPRING, international advisory board
Project on Middle East Democracy, board of directors
Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings and an assistant research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary. His latest book is “The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea” (Oxford University Press). He is also the author of “Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World” (St. Martin’s Press), which was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize. He is also co-editor with Will McCants of “Rethinking Political Islam” (Oxford University Press) and co-author of “Militants, Criminals, and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder” (Brookings Institution Press). His first book “Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East” (Oxford University Press) was named a Foreign Affairs “Best Book of 2014.” Hamid is also a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a member of the Project on Middle East Democracy’s board of directors. In 2019, he was named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine. Hamid received his Bachelor of Science and master’s at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and his doctorate in political science at Oxford University.
Affiliations:
The Atlantic, contributing writer
EUSPRING, international advisory board
Project on Middle East Democracy, board of directors
The problem of democracy
In The Problem of Democracy, Shadi Hamid reimagines the ongoing debate on democracy’s merits and proposes an ambitious agenda for reviving the lost art of democracy promotion in the world’s most undemocratic regions.
What happens when democracy produces “bad” outcomes? Is democracy good because of its outcomes or despite them? This “democratic dilemma” is one of the most persistent, vexing problems for America abroad, particularly in the Middle East — we want democracy in theory but not necessarily in practice.
Because the Muslim population is based in cities and relatively small, nativists have little contact with and are unlikely to focus on Muslims for long: "We are not the main target of xenophobia because there are bigger groups to be racist about."
I don’t think there is a Republican foreign policy or something that’s coherent in any real way. Biden’s withdrawal comes directly from Trump’s deal so this is a major legacy not just of Biden but of Trump, so I think that complicates the whole story.
For the Saudis, the calculus is clear. They have to adapt to a new world ... and present themselves in a more positive light ahead of Biden taking office
