In his talk Professor Hinnebusch will survey how different approaches to sectarianism can be brought together to understand the drivers of sectarianism in MENA and its consequences for the formation of states and the regional states system, illustrated with examples from the Syrian case.

Raymond Hinnebusch is professor of International relations and Middle East politics at the University of St. Andrews, and founder and director of the Centre for Syrian Studies. He is currently visiting professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, where he is part of the interdisciplinary research project the project, Sectarianism in the Wake of the Arab Uprising (SWAR). His major works include Egyptian Politics Under Sadat (Cambridge University Press 1985); The International Politics of the Middle East (Manchester University Press, 2003, 2nd ed. 2015) and Syria: Revolution from above (Routledge: 2001).