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.
Sayigh is the author of numerous publications, including most recently 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 (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).
Yezid Sayigh discusses the developments in the middle east and the escalation in Lebanon.
A discussion with Yezid Sayigh about why he sees Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October as an inflection point both for the Palestinian movement and global history.
Israel still doesn’t have a clear and coherent political end goal.
The Jewish state has joined Arab countries in seeing its foundational social contract displaced by “forever wars.”
A conversation about how these confrontations are different from previous conflicts.
A conversation about the evolving situation between Israel and Hezbollah.
Political calculations on both sides make a ceasefire unlikely.
A resignation suggests that Egypt’s president has accepted defeat in the struggle to privatize military-owned companies.
Israeli forces continue attacks as attention moves to talks in Egypt.
The interaction of national armed forces and private business sectors offers a useful lens for viewing the politics of numerous countries of the so-called Global South. A rising trend of military political activism—often accompanied by military commercial activity—underlines the importance of drivers and outcomes in these relationships.