Ellen Lust is Founding Director of the Program on Governance and Local Development and Professor in the Yale University Department of Political Science. Her books include Structuring Conflict in the Arab World; Political Participation in the Middle East, co-edited with Saloua Zerhouni; Governing Africa’s Changing Societies, co-edited with Stephen Ndegwa, the 12th and 13th editions of The Middle East, an edited textbook, and Taking to the Streets: The Transformation of Arab Activism, co-edited with Lina Khatib. She has also published articles in such journals as Comparative Political Studies, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Politics and Society, and Comparative Politics. Her work broadly examines political participation and governance. She is currently writing a book examining the politics of elections in the Arab world, and a jointly authored volume (with Jakob Wichmann and Gamal Soltan) on the Egyptian transition. Ellen has conducted fieldwork, implemented public opinion polls, and led alumni tours across the region, including in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. She also served as a founding associate editor of the journal, Middle East Law and Governance, sponsored by the University of Toronto and Yale University Law Schools, and currently serves as the President of its Board of Directors.