Daniela Pioppi is associate professor of contemporary history of Arab countries at L'Orientale University of Naples. Trained as an Arabist and a political scientist (first degree in Oriental Studies, University of Rome 'La Sapienza', MA in comparative politics of the Middle East, SOAS, London University, and PhD in Political Science at the University of Pisa), she has a vast experience of field research in the Arab world. Her main research interests are comparative politics of the Middle East and North Africa region with a special emphasis on the recent evolution of Islamist movements/parties. She has directed several international research projects and she was Senior Fellow at the Mediterranean and Middle East Programme of the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI).

Laura Guazzone is Associate Professor of History of the Contemporary Arab World at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Rome La Sapienza. Trained as Arabist and expert of regional security, her main research interests are the comparative politics and international relations of the North Africa and Middle East countries. She was Senior Research Fellow of the International Affairs Institute where she directed several research projects, among which: Israeli-Palestinian Peace Research Project; The Political Role of Islamist Movements in Contemporary Arab World Project; The Middle East in Global Change Project. She is member of the editorial board of The International Spectator and of the international scientific board of Maghreb-Mashrek.