Ali E. Hillal Dessouki is professor of Political Science at the Cairo University. He is also a member of the Supreme Council of Culture and editor in chief of the quarterly Journal Contemporary Arab Affairs. He was a visiting professor at the American University in Cairo, the University of Calgary, the Universities of California, in Los Angeles and Princeton. He additionally served as Egypt Minister of Youth between 1999 and 2004 and the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science between 1993 and 1999.