Sean Yom presents ongoing research from a larger project on monarchism in the Middle East, and reveals strategies of “diffusion-proofing” undertaken by royal autocracies as disparate as Morocco, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. These regimes engaged in institutional and rhetorical strategies to deter citizens from emulating opposition protests witnessed elsewhere, including not just innovative forms of coercion but also media manipulation, discursive shifts, and identity construction.

Sean Yom is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Temple University. His research broadly focuses on authoritarianism, democracy, and development in the Middle East and North Africa.