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

This event was a launch of Professor Christopher Phillips' latest book 'Battleground: 10 Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East' published by Yale University Press.

The Middle East is in crisis. The shocking events of the war in Gaza have rocked the entire region. More than a decade ago, the Arab Spring had raised hopes of a new beginning but instead ushered in a series of civil wars, coups, and even harsher autocracies. Tensions were exacerbated by the meddling of outsiders, as regional and global powers sought to further their interests. The United States, for so long the dominant actor, had stepped back, leaving a vacuum behind it to be fought over.

Christopher Phillips explores geopolitical rivalries in the region, and the major external powers vying for influence: Russia, China, the EU, and the US. Moving through ten key flashpoints, from Syria to Palestine, Phillips argues that the United States’ overextension after the Cold War, and retreat in the 2010s, has imbalanced the region. Today, the Middle East remains blighted by conflicts of unprecedented violence and a post-American scramble for power – leaving its fate in the balance.

Meet the speakers

Christopher Phillips is Professor in International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. Phillips joined the School in January 2012, having previously worked as deputy editor for Syria and Jordan at the Economist Intelligence Unit. He is currently an associate fellow at the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, working primarily on the Syria conflict and its impact on neighbouring states and the wider Middle East. He is co-curator of ‘Syria: story of a conflict’ a public exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and the Imperial War Museum North. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University in 2014 & 2015. Chris lived in Syria for two years, in Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia, and much of his research focuses on that country. Phillips is also author of The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East published by Yale University Press in 2016.

Faisal Al Yafai is International Editor at New Lines Magazine. He is a journalist, playwright, and partner at Hildebrand Nord. He was previously an investigative journalist for The Guardian in London and a documentary journalist for the BBC, and has reported from across the Middle East, from Eastern Europe, Russia and Indonesia.

This event was moderated by Rim Turkmani.

Rim Turkmani is a Senior Research Fellow in LSE IDEAS and the Research Director for Conflict Research Programme work in Syria. Rim is also the Principal Investigator of the Legitimacy and Civicness in the Arab World research project at the LSE Middle East Centre. Rim's research focuses on legitimate governance in the Middle East with an emphasis on constitutional legitimacy and local conflict and peace drivers.

Battleground: 10 Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East

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.

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