Gamal Mansour is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto (Graduation Expected: Spring 2026). His primary specialization is in Comparative Politics, with a secondary specialization in International Relations.

His research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of comparative authoritarianism, state-society relations, and political economy, with a particular emphasis on the role of business classes in shaping political and economic change under authoritarian regimes. His dissertation, Business-State Relations under the Assads: The Search for Business Classes’ Autonomy, examines the evolving relationship between the Syrian state and business elites from the 1970s to the present.

Unlike much of the current scholarship, which focuses primarily on the state’s perspective, his research foregrounds the societal end of state-business relations, analyzing how business classes navigate and sometimes resist authoritarian constraints. Through qualitative research methods—including archival work, elite interviews, and multilingual source analysis—he traces how the business classes navigate and manage their relations to authoritarian regimes.

This research helps illuminate broader questions of political control, economic reform, and business classes’ resilience. Gamal also has a multilingual proficiency in Arabic (native), English, French, and German, as well as beginner-level Hebrew, which allows him to access a wide range of sources and facilitate cross-cultural engagement in both research and teaching.

His interest and experience in Israel and Jewish studies further contribute to his ability to design courses and research projects with rich regional and thematic breadth. In addition, before entering academia, he spent 19 years in managerial and executive roles (1991—2012) with a variety of U.S., Japanese, Swiss, and leading Syrian firms, including Mitsubishi Corporation Trading, VIMPEX al-Nemsawia, and Khayat Trading (Benetton/Sisley).

This career trajectory gave him a deep understanding of state–business relations, governance, and institutional negotiation in authoritarian contexts—experience that now informs my academic analyses of political economy and governance. These networks have also granted him sustained access to regional policymakers and business leaders, enabling both fieldwork-based teaching and comparative research collaborations that bridge scholarly work with applied public policy.