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Appointment of Nawal Salam as Head of the Lebanese Government
Judge Nawal Salam has been tasked with forming the first government in the era of President Joseph Aoun, having received 84 votes during the parliamentary consultations.
Nawal Salam is a prominent figure in Lebanon, with a distinguished academic and diplomatic background. Born on December 15, 1953, in Beirut to a renowned political family, his father, Abdullah Salam, was one of the founders of Middle East Airlines (MEA) and served as its chairman for an extended period between 1956 and 1983. His paternal grandfather, Abu Ali Salam, was a notable figure in the early 20th century, serving as a deputy in the Ottoman Parliament and as the Mayor of Beirut.
Nawal Salam holds a State Doctorate in Political Science from the Sciences Po institute in Paris, as well as a Ph.D. in History from the University of Paris-Sorbonne and a Master’s degree in Law from Harvard University. He has authored numerous works in the fields of politics, history, and law.
He began his legal career in 1984 as an appellate lawyer and a member of the Beirut Bar Association, representing various international and local organizations. He also worked in Boston as a legal representative for several international institutions between 1989 and 1992.
Before pursuing a legal career, he was engaged in academia, serving as a lecturer at the Sorbonne from 1979 to 1981 and holding a visiting fellowship at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in 1981. He returned to Beirut in 1992, where he worked as a lawyer at Tekla Law Firm while simultaneously teaching international law and international relations at the American University of Beirut, where he also chaired the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration from 2005 to 2007.
His academic expertise includes teaching at several prestigious universities such as Harvard University, Columbia University, and the International Peace Institute in New York, in addition to various Arab universities in Rabat, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.
In 2018, he was elected as a judge in the International Court of Justice, and on February 6, 2024, he became the president of this court, making him the second Arab to hold this position after former Algerian Foreign Minister Mohammed Bedjaoui.
