Tarek Masoud
Professor of International Relations at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government
Tarek Masoud is a Professor of Public Policy and the Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman Professor of International Relations at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also the Faculty Director of Harvard’s Middle East Initiative, which is dedicated to promoting policy-relevant scholarship and teaching on the most important challenges facing the region. His current research focuses on governance and political development in Arabic-speaking and Muslim-majority countries. He holds an AB from Brown and a Ph.D from Yale, both in political science.
Areas of Interest:
- Labor markets in the Arab World
- Education and human resource development
- Youth transitions to adulthood
- Inequality of opportunity
Education:
- Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 2001-2008
- M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. in Political Science, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1993-1997
- A.B. in Political Science, with Honors
Experience:
- Professor of Public Policy and Sultan Qaboos Bin Said of Oman Professor of International Relations, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
- Faculty Chair, Middle East Initiative, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, 2018-present
- Faculty Chair, Edward S. Mason Fellows Summer Seminar, Harvard Kennedy School, 2017-present
Latest Publications:
- “Kings or People? The Arab Spring at 10,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 32, No. 1, January 2021, pp. 139-154
- “Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia is a mosque again. Do Turkish citizens want Erdogan to restore the caliphate?,” with M. Aytug Sasmaz, Washington Post (Monkey Cage Blog), July 24, 2020
- “Review Essay: The Prince,” Journal of Democracy, July 2020, pp. 172-178
- “Poverty and Divine Rewards: The Electoral Advantage of Islamist Political Parties,” with Sharan Grewal, Amaney Jamal, and Elizabeth Nugent, American Journal of Political Science, Vol, 63, No. 4, 2019.
