Yezid Sayigh is a senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where he works on the comparative political and economic roles of Arab armed forces, the impact of war on states and societies, and the politics of authoritarian resurgence. Previously, Sayigh held teaching and research positions at King’s College London, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford, and headed the Middle East program of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Sayigh was also an adviser, negotiator, and policy planner in the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel 1991-2002 and advised on Palestinian public institutional reform until 2006. His latest publications include “Civilians in Arab Defense Affairs: Implications for Providers of Security Assistance,” (2023), Throwing Down the Gauntlet: What the IMF Can Do About Egypt’s Military Companies (2022), and Retain, Restructure, or Divest? Policy Options for Egypt’s Military Economy (2022).

Previously, Sayigh held teaching and research positions at King’s College London, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford. From 1998–2003, he also headed the Middle East program of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Sayigh was also an adviser and negotiator in the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel and headed the Palestinian delegation to the multilateral peace talks on Arms Control and Regional Security from 1991–1994. From 1999, he provided policy and technical consultancy on the permanent-status peace talks and on Palestinian reform.

Sayigh is the author of numerous publications, including most recently Throwing Down the Gauntlet: What the IMF Can Do About Egypt’s Military Companies (April 2022); Retain, Restructure, or Divest? Policy Options for Egypt’s Military Economy (2022), Praetorian spearhead: The role of the military in the evolution of Egypt’s state capitalism 3.0 (2021); Owners of the Republic: An Anatomy of Egypt’s Military Economy (2019); Dilemmas of Reform: Policing in Arab Transitions (March 2016); Crumbling States: Security Sector Reform in Libya and Yemen (June 2015); Missed Opportunity: The Politics of Police Reform in Egypt and Tunisia (March 2015); The Syrian Opposition’s Leadership Problem (April 2013); Above the State: The Officers’ Republic in Egypt (August 2012); “We serve the people”: Hamas policing in Gaza (2011); and Policing the People, Building the State: Authoritarian transformation in the West Bank and Gaza (2011). He is the author of the award-winning Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993 (Oxford, 1997).