About

Imad Salamey

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
Chairperson, Department of Political and International Studies

Dr. Imad Salamey is a senior Middle East policy advisor and professor of political science and international affairs at LAU. He serves as a monitoring and evaluation consultant for various international and regional organizations on issues related to development, humanitarian and political assistance.

Dr. Salamey is the author of The Decline of Nation-States after the Arab Spring: the Rise of Communitocracy (Routledge, 2017), The Government and Politics of Lebanon (Peter Lang, 2021), Philosophy and Contemporary Theory of Communitarianism (Edward Elgar, 2025), co-editor of Post-Conflict Power-Sharing Agreements: Options for Syria (Palgrave, 2018) and editor of The Communitarian Nation-State Paradox in Lebanon (Nova Science Publishers, 2021).

Research Interests

Dr. Salamey’s research examines Middle East and North African topics of political economy, communitarian politics, conflict resolution, power sharing and governance.

SDGs Research Mapping

Dr. Imad Salamey conducts research relevant to the following SDGs:

Selected Publications

  1. Articles

    1- Saadeh, Reem and Salamey, Imad. 2025. “Mediating Ethnosectarian Conflicts: Lessons from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon, and Northern Ireland”. International Negotiation, 31(2), 288-307.

    2- Salamey, Imad and Rahbani Takla. 2023. “Power-Sharing Models for Post-War Syria: Consociational vs. Centripetal Options”. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 29(2): 179-203.

    3- Salamey, Imad. 2019. “Mitigating MENA communitarian conflicts through power-sharing options”. Orient 60(2): 43-50.

    4- Salamey, Imad. 2018. “The Communitarian Arab State”. Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Houston, Texas.

    5- Salamey, Imad. 2018. “The Communitarian Arab State. Policy Brief”. Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Houston, Texas.

    6- Salamey, Imad. 2016. “The Double Movement & Post-Arab Spring Consociationalism”. The Muslim World, 105(3):187-203.

    7- Salamey, Imad. 2015. “Post-Arab Spring Changes and Challenges”. Third World Quarterly, 36(1): 111-129.

    8- Salamey, Imad. 2013. “Mitigating the Resource Curse for Extractive Industry: the Case of Lebanon”. Oil, Gas, and Energy Law Intelligence, 11 (3).

    9- Salamey, Imad and Tabar, Paul. 2012. “Democratic Transition and Sectarian Populism: The Case of Lebanon”, Contemporary Arab Affairs, 5(4): 37-41.

    10- Salamey, Imad. 2012. “The Many Colors of the Arab Spring”. Columbia’s Journal of International Affairs.

    11- Salamey, Imad and Pearson, Frederic. 2012. “The collapse of Middle Eastern authoritarianism: breaking the barriers of fear and power”, Third World Quarterly, 33(5): 931-948.

    12- Baroudi, Sami and Salamey, Imad. 2011. “US-French collaboration on Lebanon: How Syria’s role in Lebanon and the Middle East contributed to a US-French Convergence” The Middle East Journal, 65(3): 398 - 425.

    13- Salamey, Imad and Othman, Zanoubia. 2011. “Shi’a Revival and Welayat El-Faqih in the Making of Iranian Foreign Policy”, Politics, Religion & Ideology, 12(2): 197 – 212.

    14- Salamey, Imad and Copeland, Gary. 2011. “How Exceptional Are Islamists? Comparing Supports for Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces”, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 13(2): 157 - 175.

    15- Salamey, Imad. 2009. “Failing Consociationalism in Lebanon & Integrative Options”, International Journal of Peace Studies, 14(2): 83 - 105.

    16- Salamey, Imad. 2009. “Middle Eastern Exceptionalism: Globalization and the Balance of Power”, Journal of Democracy and Security, 5(3): 249 - 260.

    17- Royce Hutson, Robert Muggah, and Imad Salamey. 2009. “Who are the legitimate security providers in South Lebanon?” Small Arms Survey, Lebanon Issue Brief (1).

    18- Royce Hutson, Athena Kolbe, Ted Haines, Bernadette Stringer, Harry Shannon, and Imad Salamey. 2009. “Testing Received Wisdom: Perceptions of Security in Southern Lebanon”. In Small Arms Survey 2009: Shadows of War, Small Arms Survey (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    19- Salamey, Imad and Payne, Rhys. 2008. “Parliamentary Consociationalism in Lebanon:  Equal Citizenry vs. Quotated Confessionalism”, Journal of Legislative Studies, 14(4): 451-473.

    20- Salamey, Imad and Tabar, Paul. 2008. “Consociational Democracy and Urban Sustainability:  Bridging the Confessional Divides in Beirut”, Journal of Ethnopolitics, 7(2): 239-263.

    21- Salamey, Imad and Pearson, Frederic. 2007. “Hezbollah: A Proletarian Party with an Islamic Manifesto - A Sociopolitical Analysis of Islamist Populism in Lebanon and the Middle East”, Journal of Small Wars & Insurgencies, 18(3): 416-438.

    22- Salamey, Imad and Pearson, Fredric. 2005. “The Crisis of Federalism and Electoral Strategies in Iraq”, International Studies Perspectives, 6(2): 155-305.

    23- Salamey, Imad and Pearson, Fredric. 2004. “Toward a U.S. Exit Strategy from Iraq and a Transition to Full Sovereignty”, Foreign Policy in Focus.

     

    Chapters

    1- Salamey, Imad. 2026. “Middle Eastern Exceptionalism and the Prospects for Democratization”. In Sage Handbook on Democratization (Forthcoming).

    2- Salamey, Imad. 2026. “Republic of Lebanon II”. In The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa, 10th ed. Yom, Sean. London: Routledge.

    3- Salamey, Imad. 2022. “The Unmelting Lebanese National Pot,” Canopy Forum, October 14, 2022. https://canopyforum.org/2022/10/14/the-unmelting-lebanese-national-pot/

    4- Salamey, Imad. 2021. “Democracy and Development in the Middle East”. In: G. Crawford & A. Abdulai, eds. Research Handbook on Democracy and Development. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 250-262.8- Salamey, Imad. 2021. “The communitarian nation”. In: Imad Salamey, eds. The Communitarian Nation-State Paradox in Lebanon, 2021, pp. 1–28. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

    5- Salamey, Imad. 2021. “Reconstructing the communitarian state”. In: Imad Salamey, eds. The Communitarian Nation-State Paradox in Lebanon, 2021, pp. 309–333. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

    6- Salamey, Imad and Noujaim Maria. 2021. “Lebanon’s Human Security in Defense Strategy”. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. 

    7- Salamey, Imad. 2020. “Hezbollah, Communitarianism, and Anti-Imperialism”. In the Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism, 2 eds. Cope, Zak and Ness, Immanuel. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    8- Salamey, Imad. 2019. “Republic of Lebanon”. In The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa, 9th ed. Yom, Sean. London: Routledge.

    9- Salamey, Imad; Abu Nimer, Mohammed; Abouaoun, Elie. 2018. “Comparative Post-Conflict Power Sharing Models for Syria” in Post-Conflict Power-Sharing Agreements: Options for Syria, eds. Salamey, Imad; Abu Nimer, Mohammed; Abouaoun, Elie. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    10- Salamey, Imad and Rizk, Samuel. 2018. “Ways Forward for Syria” in Post-Conflict Power-Sharing Agreements: Options for Syria, eds. Salamey, Imad; Abu Nimer, Mohammed; Abouaoun, Elie. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    11- Salamey, Imad and Abouaoun, Elie. 2017. “Rights of Non-Muslims in the Middle East” in Islam and Human Rights: Key Issues for Our Times, eds. Abdo, Geneive; pp. 20-26, Washington D.C.: Atlantic Council.

    12- Salamey, Imad. 2013. “Technology-induced innovation in the making and consolidation of Arab democracy”. In State Power 2.0: Authoritarian Entrenchment and Political Engagement Worldwide, eds. Hussain, Muzammil and Howard, Philip. London: Ashgate Publishing.

    13- Salamey, Imad and Hussein, Muzammil. 2013.  “Sectarian Minorities and Democratic Transition in the Middle East”. In the 10th edition of the IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook, Med.

    14- Salamey, Imad. 2012. “The Crisis of Consociational Democracy in Beirut: Conflict Transformation and Sustainability through Electoral Reform”. In Urban Sustainability: Perspective, eds. Vojnovic, Igor Z. Lansing: Michigan State University Press. pp. 177-198.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD in Political Science, 2003, Wayne State University, USA.