CSDWestminster

Delighted to share that for the next CSD Seminar on Tuesday 13th October at 5 pm, Dr Mustafa Meshawy will be speaking about his work on First Ladies of Authoritarianism: Gender, Politics and Diplomacy in the Arab World and Beyond. Event open and free to all. Register at link here -- westminster.ac.uk/events/csd… The seeds of this project were planted on the streets of the Arab Spring. In 2011, while working as a BBC reporter covering anti-regime protests, Dr Menshawy heard demonstrators demanding not only the downfall of authoritarian leaders, but of their wives too. It left him with a puzzle: if first ladies are merely ceremonial figures standing beside powerful men, why were protesters so angry with them? A decade later, drawing on archives, fieldwork and interviews with people around leaders’ wives, Dr Menshawy revisits that puzzle by travelling to countries such as Egypt and Tunisia as well as by conducting interviews with those around first ladies of countries such as China. The talk explores how marriage, gender, glamour and political power intertwine at the heart of authoritarian rule, and how first ladies can both stabilise and destabilise regimes.

Delighted to share that for the next CSD Seminar on Tuesday 13th October at 5 pm, Dr Mustafa Meshawy will be speaking about his work on First Ladies of Authoritarianism: Gender, Politics and Diplomacy in the Arab World and Beyond. Event open and free to all. Register at link here -- westminster.ac.uk/events/csd… The seeds of this project were planted on the streets of the Arab Spring. In 2011, while working as a BBC reporter covering anti-regime protests, Dr Menshawy heard demonstrators demanding not only the downfall of authoritarian leaders, but of their wives too. It left him with a puzzle: if first ladies are merely ceremonial figures standing beside powerful men, why were protesters so angry with them? A decade later, drawing on archives, fieldwork and interviews with people around leaders’ wives, Dr Menshawy revisits that puzzle by travelling to countries such as Egypt and Tunisia as well as by conducting interviews with those around first ladies of countries such as China. The talk explores how marriage, gender, glamour and political power intertwine at the heart of authoritarian rule, and how first ladies can both stabilise and destabilise regimes.