The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies is pleased to congratulate Dr. Joseph Sassoon, CCAS Associate Professor and Sheikh Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah Chair, on the publication of his new book.
Anatomy of Authoritarianism in the Arab Republics by Cambridge University Press (2016). By examining the system of authoritarianism in eight Arab republics, Sassoon portrays life under these regimes and explores the mechanisms underpinning their resilience. How did the leadership in these countries create such enduring systems? What was the economic system that prolonged the regimes’ longevity, but simultaneously led to their collapse? Why did these seemingly stable regimes begin to falter? This book seeks to answer these questions by utilizing the Iraqi archives and memoirs of those who were embedded in these republics: political leaders, ministers, generals, security agency chiefs, party members, and business people. Taking a thematic approach, the book begins in 1952 with the Egyptian Revolution and ends with the Arab uprisings of 2011. It seeks to deepen our understanding of the authoritarianism and coercive systems that prevailed in these countries and the difficult process of transition from authoritarianism that began after 2011. Dr. Sassoon’s book Saddam Hussein’s Ba`th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime (Cambridge University Press, 2012) won the prestigious British-Kuwait Prize for the best book on the Middle East.
Please join CCAS and Dr. Sassoon for a book talk and signing at 6:00 pm on April 5 in the CCAS Boardroom. If you can’t make it to that one, check below for a list of additional talks Dr. Sassoon will be giving across the United States and abroad.
Book Talks for Anatomy of Authoritarianism in the Arab Republics
Friday, March 4: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, DC
Wednesday, March 9: Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
Wednesday, March 23: Kuwait University, Political Science Dept.
Tuesday, April 5: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University
Wednesday, April 6: Political Science Dept., Rochester University
Thursday, April 7: Hagop Kevorkian Center, Near Eastern Studies, NYU
Wednesday,April 13: Program on Arab Reform and Democracy, Stanford University
Tuesday, April 19: Tulane University
Wednesday, April 20: Houston/Rice University
Tuesday, May 24: Bodleian Library, Oxford
Wednesday, May 25: Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB) and Barcelona Institute for International Studies (IBEI)
Thursday, May 26: London School of Economics (LSE)
Friday, May 27: Middle East Center, St Antony’s College, Oxford University
Thursday, October 6: Council on Middle East Studies, Yale University
October (Date TBD): Department of Political Science, Princeton University.