Section awards are presented during the APSA annual meeting awards ceremony. To learn more about any award listed, contact the award committee chair for the award.

All section 49. Middle East and North Africa Politics to-date »

Best Book on MENA Politics Award

Awarded for the best book published  in the previous year (January-December).  Monographs utilizing any methodological, theoretical, and empirical tools for the study of the politics of the Middle East and North Africa will be considered.  Edited volumes, handbooks, and similar works will not be considered.  If there are sufficient nominations, the award committee may choose to split the award into “first book” and “second+ book” categories. Please submit nominations or self-nominations to the award committee with the subject heading “MENA Politics Best Book Nomination” at apsamena@gmail.com by February 1. Electronic copies of the nominated book should be sent to the chair of the award committee. Members of the award committee who have worked closely with a nominee (as advisor, dissertation committee member, co-author, etc.) will recuse themselves from deliberation over that nominee’s work. Deadline for nominations: February 1, 2026

Award Committee

Name	Affiliation	Email
Steven Hydemann (Chair)	Smith College	sheydemann@smith.edu
Diana Greenwald	City College of New York	dgreenwald@ccny.cuny.edu
Rachel Brown	University of Washington in St. Louis	brown.rachel@wustl.edu

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Best Dissertation in MENA Politics

Awarded for the best doctoral thesis defended in the previous academic year. (August-July). To be considered, the dissertation must be nominated by the dissertation adviser or another faculty member familiar with the work; self-nominations are not permitted and dissertations may only be nominated once.  The nominator should submit a short letter explaining why the dissertation makes an exceptional contribution to the study of the politics of the Middle East and the broader discipline of Political Science; this letter should also indicate if any portion of the dissertation has been published in article format and/or if it is being nominated for another section award. Work utilizing any methodological, theoretical, and empirical tools for the study of the politics of the Middle East and North Africa will be considered. Please submit nomination letters, with the dissertation as a PDF attachment, to the chair of the award committee with the subject heading “MENA Politics Best Dissertation Nomination” at apsamena@gmail.com by February 1. A member of the selection committee may not nominate their own graduate student and will recuse themselves from deliberations over their student’s work should it be nominated. Deadline for nominations: February 1, 2026

Award Committee

Name	Affiliation	Email
Killian Clark (Chair)	Georgetown University	killian.clarke@georgetown.edu
Ahmed Mohamed Ezzedine	Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse	ahmed.mohamed@iast.fr
Alexandra Blackman	Cornell University	adb295@cornell.edu

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Best MENA Politics APSA Paper

Awarded for the best conference paper presented at the previous annual meeting of the APSA.  Papers utilizing any methodological, theoretical, and empirical tools for the study of the politics of the Middle East and North Africa will be considered. Please submit nominations or self-nominations to the award committee with the subject heading “MENA Politics Best Paper Nomination” at apsamena@gmail.com by February 1. Deadline for nominations: February 1, 2026

Award Committee

Name	Affiliation	Email
Carolyn Barnett (Chair)	University of Arizona	carolynbarnett@arizona.edu
Amir Reda	Mohammed VI Polytechnic University	Amir.AbdulReda@um6p.ma
Kevin Mazur	King’s College London	kevin.mazur@kcl.ac.uk

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Best MENA Politics Article

Awarded for the best article published in a peer-reviewed journal the previous year (January-December).  Articles utilizing any methodological, theoretical, and empirical tools for the study of the politics of the Middle East and North Africa will be considered. Should sufficient nominees exist, the committee may also consider recognizing any submission for a “Best Fieldwork” or “Best Dataset” sub-award. Please submit nominations or self-nominations to the award committee with the subject heading “MENA Politics Best Journal Article Nomination” at apsamena@gmail.com by February 1. Deadline for nominations: February 1, 2026

Award Committee

Name	Affiliation	Email
Fiona Adamson (Chair)	SOAS University of London	fa33@soas.ac.uk
Sarah Parkinson	Johns Hopkins University	sparkinson@jhu.edu
Salam al-Saadi	University of Toronto	salsaadi@fas.harvard.edu