Books by Lisa Wedeen

This work examines Asad's cult acts as a disciplinary device, generating a politics of public dissimulation in which citizens act "as if" they revered their leader. The ethnographic research demonstrates how Syrians recognize the disciplinary aspects of the cult and seek to undermine them.

The government of Yemen remains largely incapable of providing goods and services to its population, but the regime continues to endure despite its fragility in the global order. Revealing what holds Yemen together in such circumstances, this book shows how citizens form national attachments even in the absence of strong state institutions.