We are SEPAD High impact, international research from academics and policy makers working in the field
Background About Us
Recent Reports
Football, Identity and Politics In and From the MENA Region Javier Bordón - 19th Feb 2025
Report: Spatialising Securitisation in the Middle East
Report: Spatialising Securitisation in the Middle East Javier Bordón - 27th Jan 2025
Iranian Identities in Motion: politics, protest and the international Edward Wastnidge - 14th May 2024

What We Do

The Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation (SEPAD) project based at Lancaster University’s Richardson Institute is a collaborative project aimed at understanding the conditions that give rise to sectarian violence and proxy conflicts.

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Sepad Reports

The Securitisation of the ‘Masculinist’ other in the Syrian conflict Amidst the violence that has spread across Syria since 2011, most scholarship concerned with the Syrianconflict has focused on questions related to how the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has shaped the Syrian crisis.1 The escalated rivalry between... Read More
The different risks of Saudi and Iranian aid to Lebanon Lebanon is a battleground of Saudi-Iranian rivalry. Both provide aid. While Iranian aid to Hizballah creates a military fighting force, Saudi aid is notable for its economic impact. Iranian aid is already widely discussed1 so this article will focus on... Read More
Religion and Geopolitics in Iranian Foreign Policy Saudi Arabia and Iran, as key power brokers in the Middle East, continue to couch their bilateral relations in antagonistic terms as they chafe against each other in a battle for influence in the region. Characterising this rivalry in the purely sectarian... Read More
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Events

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Announcements

Iran, Israel, and regime survival
Iran, Israel, and regime survival Shabnam Holliday - 7th Mar 2025 On 1 April 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s consulate in Syria was...
Is Palestine the “Compass”?
Is Palestine the “Compass”? Toni Rouhana - 24th Sep 2024 Following years of sectarian tensions and violence, a recent poll has sparked...
Going Back to What You Know: October 7 and Order in the Middle East
Going Back to What You Know: October 7 and Order in the Middle East Simon Mabon - 22nd Aug 2024 Scholars of Middle Eastern politics typically point to 1979, 2003 and 2011 as...
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SEPAD is supported by the following organisations

Carnegie Corporation of New York Lancaster University Richardson Institute The Foreign Policy Centre
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