Saddam Hussein’s Ba’th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

Saddam Hussein’s Ba’th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime 

 A Lecture by Joseph Sassoon 

Moderated by Timothy Mitchell 

Time: 12:30-2PM 

Location: Knox Hall, Room 208 ~ 606 West 122nd Street, New York, NY 

The Ba`th came to power in Iraq in 1968 and remained there for thirty-five years until the 2003 US-led invasion. Under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, who became president in 1979, a powerful authoritarian regime was created based on a system of violence and extra-ordinary surveillance network, as well as reward and incentives for supporters of the regime. This lecture will focus on recent access to Iraqi documents which allow us to understand how authoritarian regimes operate and how they control their population. 

Born in Iraq, Sassoon obtained his PhD at St Antony’s College Oxford. He teaches at Georgetown University and this term he is a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. Sassoon has published widely on Iraq and the Middle East. His previous book was on the Iraqi Refugees post the 2003 invasion and called : The Iraqi Refugees: The New Crisis in the Middle East.