Samir Makdisi is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Founding Director of the Institute of Financial Economics at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He has served as Lebanon's Minister of National Economy and as Deputy President of AUB. He is co-editor ( with Ibrahim Elbadawi) of 'Democracy in the Arab World: Explaining the Deficit' (Routledge, 2011) and 'Democratic Transitions in the Arab World' (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press).