Professor Simon Mabon is Chair of International Politics at Lancaster University where he directs SEPAD (Sectarianism, Proxies and Desectarianization Project) and the Richardson Institute, the UK’s oldest Peace and Conflict research centre. After reading Philosophy (2003-06) he undertook at PhD in International Relations at the University of Leeds (2008-12). He joined Lancaster University in the summer of 2012.
Mabon is the author and editor of 12 books including:
The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2023); Houses built on sand: Sectarianism, revolution and violence in the Middle East (Manchester University Press, 2020); British Foreign Policy Since WWII (Routledge, 2016); The Origins of ISIS (IB Tauris, 2016); Saudi Arabia and Iran: Soft Power Rivalry in the Middle East (IB Tauris, 2013). Mabon is the author of 45 articles and book chapters in a range of Middle East and International Relations journals including: Review of International Studies; Middle East Journal; Middle East Policy; British Journal of Middle East Studies; Politics, Religion and Ideology; and Third World Quarterly.
In 2016-7 Mabon served as academic advisor to the House of Lords International Relations committee report into the UK’s relations with the Middle East. He regularly consults with governmental agencies and for international news outlets including the BBC, CNN, CNBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiyya, France 24, Deutsche Welle, and others.