Dr. Rafik Abdessalem is a Tunisian politician and a member of the Executive Committee of the Ennahda party. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013, representing Tunisia's first democratically elected government under Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali. Dr. Abdessalem played a key role in establishing the General Union of Tunisians in the 1980s. He is the founder and director of the London-based Centre for Strategic and Diplomatic Studies (CSDS), founder of the Maghreb Centre for Research and Translations, and former president of the London Dialogue Platform. Dr. Abdessalem also worked as a senior researcher and head of the Research and Studies Office at the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. He holds a PhD in politics and international relations from the University of Westminster and is the author of several books.