“Liberal” Selves in “Illiberal” Contexts: Everyday Practices of Political Speech Management among Abu Dhabi’s “Expats”

John O'Brien, NYU Abu Dhabi

In moving to Abu Dhabi, UAE to live and work, Western White professional-class expatriates shift political contexts, from Western “liberal” democracies with certain norms and traditions of “freedom of speech” to a non-Western “illiberal” monarchy where public speech about certain topics can be sanctioned by the government, as well as be socially sanctioned by others. How do these “expats” manage this transition, between two differing political contexts? This paper draws on an abductive analysis of interviews with 74 expatriates to identify practical strategies through which Western expatriates manage the transition from “liberal” to “illiberal” speech context in everyday life. My analysis identifies two strategies through which Western expatriates manage this changed political climate: The first, self-censoring, manifests in two forms, attempted redaction and cautious articulation, and focuses on whether and – crucially – how one talks about locally “sensitive” topics, especially those regarding government policy and/or local economic and ethnic divisions. The second, being publicly positive, emphasizes excluding all criticisms of or complaints about Abu Dhabi from the public realm, especially social media. Through these practices, Western expats work to formulate a complex political self, one both liberal enough to reflect interest in and opinions on local social issues, and illiberal enough to pay heed to their particular host country context, as well as to protect their precariously privileged place within it.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 161. Theories of Consolidation, Legislative Politics, and Illiberal Contexts