PhD defence Astrid Bourlond: Why authoritarian regimes are more flexible than is often assumed
On Wednesday 24 September, Astrid Bourlond will defend her PhD dissertation 'A Recipe for Resilience: The Shifts in the Domestic and Foreign Authoritarian Religious Policies of the Jordanian Regime (1979-2024)'. In her dissertation, Bourlond analyses the different ways in which the regime manages religious intermediaries – both domestic as foreign – to protect its political interests and to enhance its ability to face threats.
Securing political resilience
Between 1979 and 2024, Bourlond identifies four main phases of Jordanian religious policies. She explains how and why the regime engages with different intermediaries in each phase and shows how it exploits their strengths to reach separate target groups. Yet, she demonstrates that the regime does so with the same long-term goals: avoiding the politicisation of Islamic movements and protecting its political resilience.
Bourlond concludes that the Jordanian regime is able to react in a flexible manner to threats and challenges to protect its resilience. Her research contributes to our understanding of authoritarianism in general and goes against the idea that authoritarian regimes are rigid political entities.
Prior to her defence, Bourlond will give a layman’s talk starting at 14:00.
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Location
- PhD candidate
- A.C.V. Bourlond
- Dissertation
- A Recipe for Resilience: The Shifts in the Domestic and Foreign Authoritarian Religious Policies of the Jordanian Regime (1979-2024)
- PhD supervisor(s)
- Professor C.R. Lange
- Co-supervisor(s)
- Dr J. Wagemakers