POMEPS Steering Committee member Laurie A. Brand has just published Official Stories: Politics and National Narratives in Egypt and Algeria (Stanford University Press, 2014). In Official Stories, Brand introduces a new factor to the discussion of regime maintenance: national narratives. Brand argues that “official stories, which are used to reinforce the right to rule, justify policies, or combat opponents, deserve careful exploration if we are to understand the full range of tools available to respond to crises that threaten a leadership’s hold on power.” By examining six decades of political, economic, and military challenges in Egypt and Algeria, Brand demonstrates “how leaderships have attempted to reconfigure narratives to confront challenges to their power.” POMEPS is thrilled to host Brand for a book launch on October 15, 2014. You can RSVP here.
Brand is the Robert Grandford Wright Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California and Chair of the Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom. She has been a frequent contributor to POMEPS, most recently to POMEPS Studies 8 “The Ethics of Research in the Middle East.” Read her recent Monkey Cage contribution “The stakes and symbolism of voting from abroad” (June 5, 2014).