Book launch: 'The Quest for Democracy in Saudi Arabia'
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
- Venue
- Main Building, SOAS
- Room
- R101
- Event type
- Launch
About this event
The Quest for Democracy in Saudi Arabia brings together scholars and activists to examine the possibilities and challenges of democratic change in Saudi Arabia.
The book challenges the idea that demands for political participation, accountability and rights are somehow absent from Saudi society, and instead places these struggles within their longer political, social and historical context.
The launch will provide an opportunity to reflect on these questions at a particularly important moment: what democracy might mean in the Saudi context, the forces that continue to constrain political change, and the role of social movements, women, activists and wider civil society in imagining and pushing for different political futures.
Registration
This event is free to attend, but registration is required. Seating is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that food and drink is not permitted in R101.
Image credit: ekrem osmanoglu on Unsplash
About the speakers
Madawi Al-Rasheed is Fellow of the British Academy. Previously, she was Professor of Social Anthropology at King’s College London and Visiting Professor at the Middle East Centre, London School of Economics. She specialises in Middle East politics and religion in the Arab world, with particular expertise on Saudi Arabia. She is the author of several books, the latest of which is The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia.
Maryam Aldossari is Associate Professor in Organisation Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is also a board member of ALQST for Human Rights and the Arab Rights and Research Center. Her research focuses on gender, work and social inequality, with particular expertise on Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf. Her work examines how organisational practices, informal power, labour-market institutions and state governance shape women’s experiences, inequality and political and social change.
Chair
Adam Hanieh (Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute, MBI Jaber Chair of Middle East Studies and Professor in the Development Studies Department).
