Join Samer Abboud, Professor of Global Interdisciplinary Studies and Director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at Villanova University, for a discussion of the legacies of the Assad regime and the challenges facing Syria's political transition.
Drawing on his recent book, Betrayal of the Homeland: Disloyal Subjects in Wartime Syria (Columbia University Press, 2026), Abboud will examine how the former regime cultivated divisions between loyalty and disloyalty, using legal, political, and bureaucratic mechanisms to punish perceived opponents and consolidate its authority. He will also reflect on contemporary Syria following the fall of the Assad regime, exploring how the new government is repositioning itself domestically and internationally, and how the enduring legacies of repression, resentment, and political division continue to shape the country's future.
This event is part of the Andrea Mitchell Center's Politics on the Edge series with the Polybian Society.