Professor Simon Mabon

Professor of International Politics

Research Overview

My work falls at the intersection of Middle East Studies, International Relations and (International) Polital Theory. I am particularly interested in sovereignty and its discontents, sectarianism, space, and nomos, along with the empirical manifestations of these issues. I am Director of SEPAD, funded by Carnegie Corporation and The Henry Luce Foundation.

Broadly speaking I am interested in the following areas

  • Sovereignty
  • Saudi-Iranian relations
  • Sectarianism
  • De-sectarianization
  • Nomos
  • Order
  • The Arab Uprisings
  • Religion and politics
  • Regime-society relations
  • International Political Theory and its application to the Middle East

My research interests are situated at the interplay of sectarianism, sovereignty and regional politics. I have published work that looks at these themes (collectively and individually) in leading Middle East studies and IR journals.

My two most recent monographs looked at the interplay of these issues. The most recent, The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iran was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023. The second, Houses built on sand: Violence, sectarianism and revolution in the Middle East was published by Manchester University Press in 2020 and was listed by Choice as an academic book of the year. An open access version is here.

I am currently working on a book for Yale University Press on sectarianism in the Middle East.

Hot War
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Foreign Affairs Select Committee Inquiry
Other

Agamben in the Middle East
Invited talk

The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East
Invited talk

The Struggle for Supremacy
Invited talk

Recalibrating the Social Contract in the Middle East
Invited talk

Power Sharing
Invited talk

Houses built on sand: Sectarianism in Bahrain
Invited talk

Houses built on sand: Violence, sectarianism and revolution in the Middle East. Book launch
Invited talk

Saudi Arabia and Iran: De-Escalation in the Middle East
Invited talk

Sectarian Games: Sovereign Power, War Machines and Regional Order in the Middle East
Invited talk

Exploring Desectarianization
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

SEPAD Policy maker roundtable
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

SEPAD Policy workshop
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

The Saudi-Iranian Struggle for Supremacy & the Future of the Middle East
Invited talk

Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Contemporary Middle East
Invited talk

The Struggle for Supremacy
Invited talk

Sectarianism in the Wake of the Arab Revolts
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

SEPAD Report Launch
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar

Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Struggle to Shape the Middle East
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar

The Struggle For Supremacy: Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Contemporary Middle East
Invited talk

The Struggle For Supremacy: Saudi Arabia, Iran and Religious Soft Power
Invited talk

The Struggle for Supremacy: Saudi Arabia in the Contemporary Middle East
Invited talk

The Struggle For Supremacy
Invited talk

Saudi Arabia and Iran: Rivalry and Fragmentation after the Arab Uprisings
Invited talk

The Struggle For Supremacy
Invited talk

Houses Built On Sand
Invited talk

Saudi Arabia as a 'Middle Power'
Invited talk

The Apocalyptic and the Sectarian
Invited talk

Understanding ISIS
Invited talk

Understanding the Middle East: Should the West Intervene?
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Saudi Arabia, Iran and Geopolitical Change in the Middle East
Invited talk

  • Richardson Institute for Peace Studies