News

The renewed saliency of Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian identities in the violent conflicts and contentious politics in several Middle Eastern countries has been the focus of a number of important academic work in recent times. The emphasis in th...

In exciting news, we has a new sister project, run by Morten Valbjørn and Jeroen Gunning, and featuring wonderful colleagues from SEPAD and beyond. If you wish to engage with the project on twitter please use #TheOtherIslamists. All at ...

At the time of writing, a wave of protests is sweeping across Lebanon. The government’s announcement of a plan to impose a tax on WhatsApp appeared to be the final straw for the Lebanese, who have been dealing with months of economic aus...

Sectarianism in Lebanon is, literally, hair-raising! Over the summer, I went to Lebanon to conduct some fieldwork for my research. One day, I went to one of the local barbershops in the neighbourhood where I was staying to get a haircut. Th...

On the 10th September, SEPAD held an event discussing de-sectarianization and the contemporary Middle East in collaboration with the Foreign Policy Centre at The Work Foundation in London. Over the course of the day, SEPAD fellows embarked on a ri...

CALL FOR PAPERS: 
From Sectarianism to De-Sectarianization

16th – 17th of April 2020, Lancaster University

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Since the mid-1960s, oil has been the most popular energy resource of the world with more than 30 percent share in global energy consumption  Read More

In recent months, a number of academics and commentators have begun to reflect on the resonance and relevance of sectarian identities, albeit in a range of different ways. At a SEPAD event in London earlier this year, Morten Valbjorn and I both ga...

Below are resources looking at the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

·   Aarts, P. and Van Duijne, J., 2009. Saudi...