Please note: this event has been rescheduled to Monday, May 16 from its original date of Friday, April 29.
A seminar with Steven Brooke, Middle East Initiative Research Fellow and Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Louisville. Part of the Middle East Initiative Research Fellow Seminar Series.
Moderated by Tarek Masoud, Sultan of Oman Associate Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School.
Why do ordinary citizens respond to elites' calls for ethnic mobilization? Using the case of anti-Shi'a agitation in post-Mubarak Egypt, I argue that elites are able to shift citizen perceptions of what is appropriate behavior towards out-groups. In addition to qualitative materials drawn from the period, an original list experiment shows the socially constructed nature of anti-Shi'a sentiment: when asked directly, over 80% of Egyptians expressed intolerance. But when allowed to answer in a way that protected them from social desirability bias that number dropped to around 40%.
For more about Steven Brooke, click here.
