Evolving Patronage Networks: the Siloviki of the Arabian Peninsula

Dr Matthew Hedges, 17 March 2020, 14.00

Matthew Hedges is an academic focusing on authoritarian regimes. He has a doctorate from Durham University where he researched the regime security strategy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). His thesis will be published in Winter 2021 with Hurst & Co and is titled Reinventing the Sheikhdom: Clan, Power, and Patronage in the UAE. Matthew has recently published an article in Asian Affairs titled “Small State Security Engagement in Post-Arab Spring MENA; Case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)”. In May 2018 he was detained in the UAE and in November that year was convicted of espionage, but pardoned and released the same month.