Karim Safieddine is a PhD student interested in understanding the ways in which social movements, for what they represent in terms of various aspects of intellectual and organizational leadership, challenge or reproduce prevailing power relations and ideological norms between late 20th and 21st century Lebanon. In this context, his research focuses on the historical and contemporary development of the "Lebanese Left", particularly in relation to other more dominant local political forces. 

His project attempts to explore post-2011 non-sectarian movements from a resource perspective which centers the role of leadership in so-called "leaderless environments". To better understand this biographical dimension to movement organizations within alternative spaces, he expands on the theoretical concept of "political workers".