North African nations of Morocco and Tunisia
November 6, 2025 | TBD | TBD |聽
The Clough Center is delighted to welcome two illustrious speakers鈥揧oussef Chahed and Mohammed Hashas鈥搕o discuss democracy鈥檚 prospects, and its philosophical and practical underpinnings, in the crucial North African nations of Morocco and Tunisia.聽 A Clough Center Visiting Fellow this year, Youssef Chahed was Prime Minister of Tunisia from 2016 to 2020. As the longest serving head of government after Tunisia鈥檚 democratic transition, Dr. Chahed fought terrorism and corruption and worked for racial and gender equality. Mohammed Hashas is a preeminent scholar of Moroccan intellectual history and religion and politics in the Arab-European Islamic world at large. Hashas is author and editor of Contemporary Moroccan Thought (2025), a groundbreaking volume that reflects modern Morocco鈥檚 intellectual history. He previously published The Idea of European Islam (2019) and Intercultural Geopoetics (2017), and he is an assistant professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
Youssef Chahed
Youssef Chahed was the Republic of Tunisia's youngest-ever appointed head of聽 government, holding the position from August 2016 to February 2020. He had聽 previously served as the secretary of state for fisheries and the minister of local聽 affairs. Since the Tunisian revolution in January 2011, Chahed has been a聽 supporter of freedom of the press, expression, and diversity. Throughout his term聽 in office, he successfully fought against terrorist organizations like ISIS and Al聽 Qaida. He was the first Arab leader to start a war against organized crime,聽 smugglers, and corruption. He was successful in addressing Tunisia's public聽 finance problems and lowering the public deficit as a result of a program聽 negotiated between Tunisia and the IMF/WB despite a challenging economic environment.聽After obtaining his Ph.D. in agribusiness sciences from the National Institute of聽 Agriculture in Paris (France) in 2003, Chahed worked as a professor and an聽 international expert in agriculture. Currently, Dr. Chahed is a Senior Fellow at the聽 Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of the Harvard Kennedy聽 School and works with the Middle East Initiative (MEI). Chahed's fellowship聽 project focuses on the Middle East and North Africa's policy, economic, and聽 security issues. He will guide a study group on the transitions to democracy and聽 development
Mohammed Hashas
Dr. Mohammed Hashas is a scholar of Islam, contemporary Islamic thought, contemporary Moroccan thought, and Islamic thought in Europe. His areas of expertise include contemporary Arab-Islamic intellectual history,聽 contemporary Arab-Islamic political theology, and ethics and politics in the Arab World. Educated in Morocco and Rome, Dr. Hashas earned his Ph.D. in Political Theory from the Luiss University of Rome in 2013, where he then taught before assuming his current position at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome. He has held fellowships in Berlin, Oxford, Copenhagen, Berlin, Tilburg, and Palermo. Dr. Hashas is the author of two books: , published by Routledge in 2019, and , published by Cambridge Scholars in 2017.
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