On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Professor Christopher Phillips of Queen Mary University about his fantastic new book Battleground: Ten Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East. The book, out on 27th February 2024 with Yale University Press, builds on Chris' earlier work and applies it to 10 'battlegrounds' across the Middle East and its neighbours in a provocative and timely analysis of conflict in the region. On this episode Simon and Chris speak about the book, its themes, the changing nature of the region and much more.

SEPADPod with Chris Phillips - Battleground

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Erwin van Veen, senior research fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit (CRU). He is an experienced professional who delivers high quality and insightful strategic advice that helps mitigate violent conflict. His direct area of expertise are the relationships between political order, protest and violence in countries like Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Syria and Turkey. On this episode, Simon and Erwin talk about travelling in the region, balancing policy and academic interests, the interplay of ideational and material factors, violence, Erwin's new book and much more.

SEPADPod With Erwin Van Veen

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Dr Inna Rudolph, a Research Fellow on the Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends (XCEPT) research programme at King's College London. Inna is a world leading expert on the hashd al shabi in Iraq and has done fascinating work on the topic. On this episode Simon and Inna talk about living in Yemen, meeting Ali Abdallah Saleh, working in Palestine, the hashd, tishreen and more. This is not to be missed!

SEPADPod with Inna Rudolf

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Louise Kettle, Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Louise is the author of Learning from the History of British Interventions in the Middle East (Edinburgh University Press, 2018) amongst other things. On this episode Simon and Louise talk about history, 9/11, marketing, Soho, learning processes, the Chilcot inquiry, studying with Aziz Alghashian, and much more!

SEPADPod with Louise Kettle

The Richardson Institute is the oldest Peace Studies centre in the UK and was established in 1959 in the spirit of the Quaker scientist, Lewis Fry Richardson. The Richardson Institute is an interdisciplinary forum for research on peace and conflict based within the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University.

Run by Dr Simon Mabon, the Institute has a number of podcasts available on this channel. The first is SEPADPod, part of SEPAD, the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianisation Project (www.sepad.org.uk), funded by Carnegie Corporation. SEPADPod features conversations with academics working on contemporary issues in Middle East politics. The second is The Impact Narrative, where Simon speaks with Dr Mark Garnett about UK and global politics.

Richardson Institute

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