Anis Ben Brik
Visiting Professor, UC Berkeley · Research Affiliate, USI Switzerland · PI & Founder, Arab AI Governance & Society Lab · Comparative Public Management · AI Governance & Society · Evaluation
UC Berkeley
Prof. Anis Ben Brik
Research Affiliate · Institute of Communication and Public Policy · Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Switzerland
Founder & PI · Arab AI Governance & Society Lab
President · Global South Evaluation Society · President · MENA Evaluation Association
Anis Ben Brik is Visiting Professor at the School of Social Welfare and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and Research Affiliate of the Institute of Communication and Public Policy at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Switzerland. His research spans three connected programmes: comparative public management, AI governance and society, and evaluation. The work asks how public institutions function across varied contexts of authority and capacity; how AI policies, regulations, and societal effects unfold across uneven state capabilities; and how evaluation systems institutionalise evidence-based decision-making in the public sector.
The empirical scope is broad and comparative — spanning 30+ countries across MENA, the Gulf, the Global South, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Methodologically, the work draws on configurational and comparative analysis, including fsQCA, latent profile analysis, supermodularity testing, process tracing, and mixed-methods research design. Across all three programmes, a recurring question concerns when formal institutional commitments translate into substantive practice, and what configurations of capacity, authority, and accountability infrastructure produce institutional translation.
Articles are in press or recently published at flagship public administration, evaluation, and AI governance outlets — including Public Management Review, Public Administration Review, Public Administration and Development, Public Organization Review, American Journal of Evaluation, Evaluation Review, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, European Policy Analysis, Regulation & Governance, AI & Society, and New Media & Society. Two anchor monographs are in press: The Algorithmic State in the MENA Region (Oxford University Press) and Governing the Machine: Democracy, Power, and the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence (NYU Press, Law and Public Policy Series).
The empirical centre of gravity is the Global South, supported by infrastructure he built and leads: the MENA Evaluation Institutionalization Index across thirty countries (mena-evaluation.com), the Arab AI Governance and Society Lab (arablab.ai), and the Global South Evaluation Society — 2,500 scholars across 40+ countries. He has raised competitive research funding across 15 projects, has delivered training in 21 countries on four continents, and has held senior public sector advisory positions including Senior Policy Advisor to the UAE Prime Minister's Office (2007–2014).
Comparative public management, AI governance and society, and evaluation are not separate fields but three windows onto the same set of questions: how do public institutions work, how do they translate formal commitments into substantive practice, and how do we know whether they are delivering?
The empirical scope is broad and comparative — MENA, the Gulf, the Global South, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Methodologically configurational and comparative: fsQCA, latent profile analysis, supermodularity testing, mixed methods, and process tracing across 30+ countries.
Comparative Public Management
Network governance and administrative performance, public sector reform under uncertainty, implementation as instrumental repurposing, public service motivation, and hybrid governance arrangements. Articles in press at Public Management Review, Public Administration Review, Public Administration and Development, and Public Organization Review.
AI Governance & Society
Cross-national analysis of AI governance, regulation, and societal effects across 22 Arab states and the Global South; algorithmic accountability; ethical charters as performative texts; sovereign LLMs; e-participation; and the social impacts of algorithmic systems. Two anchor monographs in press: The Algorithmic State (OUP) and Governing the Machine (NYU Press).
Evaluation
Evaluation institutionalisation across the Global South. Performance management, accountability infrastructure, and the conditions under which evaluation systems produce evidence-based decision-making. The MENA Evaluation Index across 30 countries (mena-evaluation.com). Founding President of the Global South Evaluation Society (2,500 scholars, 40+ countries) and President of the MENA Evaluation Association.