Origins of ISIS

Simon Mabon is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Lancaster. He is the author of Saudi Arabia and Iran: Power and Rivalry in the Middle East. Stephen Royle is a Research Fellow at the Richardson Institute, Lancaster University. He holds a PhD from Lancaster University.

• ISIS and ComplexityDynamics on the GroundIraq, Syria & the Rise of ISISIdeologies and TacticsThe Human CostRegional FactorsSolving the Problem?

"This is a timely and useful addition to the literature on the 2003 Iraq War, the subsequent dislocation of state-society relations, and security vacuum in which ISIS has risen to dominate national, regional and international security agendas. Simon Mabon and Stephen Royle chart the political organization of Iraq and ISIS, sectarianism, and the rising human costs associated with the brutality of the militant group. They should be commended for tackling a difficult and complex subject with appropriate gusto." - Robert Mason, Middle East Studies Center, American University in Cairo, 'Using exclusive on-the-ground research, Mabon and Royle reveal the real root causes behind the emergence of Islamic State and shed new light on the situation in Iraq. This book should be required reading for the incoming Secretary of State.' - Hassan Hassan, author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror