Hani Awad is researcher in the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS), Doha Institute and editor of the Omran journal at the ACRPS. He previously worked as an academic assistant at the University of Birzeit, from where he received a master's degree in contemporary Arab studies. He has a PhD in international development from the University of Oxford and his research interests focus on a wide range of political and sociological topics. His published works include his book, Transformations of the Concept of Arab Nationalism (2012. Beirut: Arab Network for Research & Publishing [in Arabic]).
Well-researched and deftly argued, Awad's work fills an important gap in literature on authoritarian upgrading. Based on impressive fieldwork and extensive interviews, he traces how upgrading processes extended outward and downward from the national to the local level, reshaping municipal political landscapes in the process. Awad's research deserves to be widely read. It represents a significant contribution to scholarship on contemporary Egyptian politics, urban politics, social mobilization, Islamist movements, and authoritarian upgrading. --Steven Heydemann, Professor of Government and Middle East Studies, Smith College