Team
Sebastian Sons is Senior Researcher at CARPO. Previously, he served as an advisor for the Regional Programme “Cooperation with Arab Donors” (CAD) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. He holds a Ph.D. from the Humboldt University Berlin with a thesis on media discourses on labor migration from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia.
Sebastian studied Islamic Studies, History and Political Sciences in Berlin and Damascus. Prior to that, he was trained as journalist in print, TV and radio media at the Berlin School for Journalists (Berliner Journalisten-Schule). Prior to his advisory position at GIZ, he was Head of Research and Editor-in-Chief of the academic magazine Orient at the German Orient-Institute from 2009-2014 and project researcher at the Program Near East and North Africa at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin.
As a political analyst, he is consulted by German and international political institutions as well as by international journalists to provide expertise on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Furthermore, he is engaged in a variety of track 2 dialogue initiatives. Among many other articles and analyses on Saudi Arabia, Sebastian is the author of three books on the Gulf in German language: Built on Sand: Saudi Arabia – A Problematic Ally (2016); Human rights Are Not for Sale. Why the World Cup in Qatar Also Has to Lead to a New Political Approach (2022); and The New Rulers of the Gulf and Their Quest for Global Influence (2023). He has been traveling to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council frequently since 2009.
EU-GCC relations; sport politics of the Arab Gulf monarchies; social and political developments in Gulf societies; foreign policy of Saudi Arabia and social transformation; South-Asian migration to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council; political and economic engagement of the Gulf states in Africa; development policy of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait
& Erwin van Veen (2024): Drivers and Strategic Puzzles of Saudi Modernization, Clingendael Institute and CARPO. Available online.
(2024): “Saudi Arabia’s relations with Iran. From demonisation to reconciliation”, in: Jalilvand, David and Marcus Schneider (eds.): Reconciling Rivals. Exploring the Implications of Détente Between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, pp. 19-25. Available online.
(2024): “The Gulf momentum in flux”, in: Cope, Zak (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Geopolitics, London. Available online.
(2023): “Creating sports humanitarianism. The nexus of Qatar’s development assistance and sport”, in: Journal of Arabian Studies 13/1. Available online.
(2023): Die neuen Herrscher am Golf und ihr Streben nach globalem Einfluss, Bonn. Available online.
