It's the getting there that counts!

Talk summary:

During my undergraduate degree I spent the years 2008-09 living in Damascus, learning Arabic, and travelling around Syria.  Syria during those years before the war was an intensely autocratic state – it was the only country in the world which still held presidential referendums instead of elections – and my colleagues and I were forced to confront this head-on.  Drawing on Lisa Wedeen’s theoretical insights about the nature of the Asad family’s personality cult as well as on personal experiences, I will discuss the nature of life under authoritarianism, the coping mechanisms we developed, and what this can tell us about the staying power of autocracy around the world.