Intercultural studies and comparative literature research have never been a purely literary concern for him. He situated both in social and political contexts. As Peter Horwath mentions, it was enlightening that Youssef critically discussed “[e]conomic and cultural contacts between Arab and European nations during the modern era” (p. 129) at the XVth Triennial Congress of the Fédération Internationale des Langues et littératures modernes.[23] That he saw the link between economics and culture was not accidental.