Holding the Gulf Together: GCC Resilience Under Fire

Featured Speakers: Dr. Yasmina Abouzzohour, Dr. Ibrahim Alhouti, Alia Moubayed, and Dr. Naji Abi-Aad.

Dr. Yasmina Abouzzohour (Moderator) 

Research Scholar and Lecturer in Politics, Princeton University; Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Gulf International Forum

Dr. Yasmina Abouzzohour is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at Gulf International Forum. She is also a Research Scholar and Lecturer in Politics at Princeton University. Previously, she was a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Middle East Initiative and an Instructor in Politics at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Abouzzohour is a comparative political scientist specializing in trust in the military, military-society relations, and public opinion in the Middle East and North Africa. Her research has appeared in academic journals, edited volumes, and policy platforms, including publications on trust in the military (Journal of North African Studies, 2023), regime behavior (Middle East Journal, 2022), and monarchical resilience (Order from Chaos, 2022). She has been featured in BBC, the Washington Post, Deutsche Welle, and the Financial Times.

Her work has been supported by the American Political Science Association, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Andrew Mellon Fund, the University of Oxford, the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, the Project on Middle East Political Science, Harvard University, and Princeton University, among others.

In addition to her academic work, she has advised government agencies and international organizations, including the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Commission, and the United Kingdom Foreign Office. She previously directed the North Africa desk at Oxford Analytica, where she oversaw risk assessments and provided strategic insights on economic governance and regional security.

At Princeton, she teaches courses on political and economic development and is completing a book on monarchical resilience, analyzing the interactions between monarchical institutions and societal groups during periods of upheaval.

Dr. Ibrahim Alhouti

Assistant Professor of the Comparative Politics of Education, Kuwait University; Non-Resident Fellow, Gulf International Forum

Dr. Ibrahim Alhouti is an Assistant Professor of the comparative politics of education at Kuwait University and a non-resident fellow at Gulf International Forum in Washington, DC. He obtained his PhD from University College London’s Institute of Education, where he explored the politics of reforming the education system in the Arab Gulf region, and holds two master’s degrees on Leadership and Comparative Education, both from University College London’s Institute of Education. He also serves as a consultant for a number of educational institutions in the Gulf. Alhouti has published several research studies about education and education reforms in the region. His research interest encompasses the politics of education, education reforms, comparative education, and education policies.

Alia Moubayed

Managing Director and MENA and Pakistan Chief Economist, Jefferies

Alia Moubayed is an experienced economist and policy practitioner with more than 25 years of experience in government, international financial institutions, think tanks and financial markets. She is currently the Chief Economist and strategist for the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan at Jefferies, an investment bank based in London. Prior to that, she was the Director of the Geo-economics and Strategy Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (2017-18), after spending 8 years as MENA Chief Economist at Barclays (2008-2016) focusing on economics and geopolitics of the Middle East. Before that, she joined the Young Professionals Program at the World Bank and worked as senior economist covering Indonesia and countries in the Western Balkans (2002-2008). She also held various research and policy responsibilities in Lebanon (1994-2002). Alia holds a BA in Economics and an MBA from the American University of Beirut, as well as a Master equivalent in Public Policy and Public Administration from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in France. She is also the founder of AWEAMENA – the Association of Women in Economics Across the Middle East and North Africa aimed at promoting the role of women in economic policy making in the region.

Dr. Naji Abi-Aad

Chief Operating Officer, Petroleb; Professor, Sciences Po Paris

Dr. Naji Abi-Aad is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Petroleb, an oil company based in Beirut and active in petroleum exploration offshore in the East Mediterranean, and a Professor at Sciences Po Paris. In addition, he manages the Institute for Energy Economics at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

Prior, Dr. Abi-Aad served as a Senior Advisor to the CEO of Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) for a year, following six years as a Research Advisor for Qatar Petroleum and its Board of Directors. He also previously served as Media and Research Strategist in the Office of HE Qatar’s Deputy Premier, Minister of Energy & Industry.

Between 1999 and 2005, Dr. Abi-Aad was managing director of Econergy, a Beirut-based research centere which carried out studies on the economic and energy developments in the East Mediterranean and the Gulf. He was also engaged between 1988 and 2003 as Senior Advisor for the Middle East within the French-based Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Energie (OME).

Dr. Abi-Aad studied at the American University of Beirut before being awarded a PhD in Energy Economics from Grenoble University in France. During his 30 years of experience, he has been involved in extensive consultations, conferences, and research studies, particularly on oil and gas in the Middle East. He has authored over 80 reports on Middle East energy issues, as well as a book on the security of petroleum supply from the region.