On this episode Simon speaks with Dr Mohammad Kalantari, Research Fellow in International Relations and Co-Director of Centre for Islamic & West Asian Studies at Department of Politics and International Relations. Mohammad’s research lies in the International Relations of the Middle East with a particular focus on the interaction of regional doctrines, elite ideologies, and political Islam. He is the author of The Clergy and the Modern Middle East: Shi’i Political Activism in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. You can find him on twitter at: https://twitter.com/mrkalantari 

On this episode, Simon and Mohammad talk about The Clergy and the Modern Middle East, positionality and much more. It's not to be missed!

SEPADPod With Lea Bou Khater

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.