Hanan Kaoud is a Palestinian scholar and policy analyst specializing in democratization, gender, and governance in colonial contexts. With over two decades of professional and academic engagement, her work interrogates the intersections of colonial fragmentation, elite capture, and institutional legitimacy in the occupied Palestinian territory. With two master’s degrees from Birzeit University, in Democracy and Human Rights, and in Gender and Development, Kaoud led analytical assessments, research and policy advocacy across Palestine, the MENA region, and international forums. Her recent research advances a decolonial critique of Oslo-derived governance and calls for a participatory social contract grounded in collective political agency.