Wajd Beshara is currently a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Sciences Po. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Durham University and a master’s degree in digital sociology from the University of Edinburgh. Her master’s thesis examined the digital expression of political grievances during the Arab Uprisings of 2011, showing how protest demands in Tunisia and Egypt evolved from primarily economic concerns to broader political claims.

She subsequently worked as a research assistant at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, within the Arab Opinion Index team, which conducts cross-national public opinion surveys across the Arab region.

Her doctoral research investigates how foreign policy positions shape processes of collective identity construction, group belonging, reflection on shared values, and symbolic association and differentiation. Particular attention is given to the impact of Western countries’ foreign policy toward Israel-Palestine, examining how Arabs imagine the “West” and how they simultaneously construct their identity in relation to it, both as a political and potentially a moral adversary.

This research adopts a multi-method design that combines an experimental survey, content analysis of popular discourse concerning foreign policy positions toward the Gaza war, and interviews with public opinion influencers in the Arab region.

Thesis working title: Positioning the West, Positioning the Self after the Gaza War: Foreign Policy, Identity and Value Betrayal 

Thesis supervisor: Kevin Arceneaux