Mark Almond is a writer and lecturer in Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford.

Almond holds a Master's degree (M.A.

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

), and is the Chair of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group

British Helsinki Human Rights Group

The British Helsinki Human Rights Group is an Oxford-based non-governmental organization which monitors human rights in the 56 participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe . Despite its name, the organisation is not affiliated to the Helsinki Committee for Human...

 (which despite its name is not affiliated with the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights

The Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to human rights and presumably named after the Helsinki Accords...

). He has served as an election observer under the aegis of the BHHRG in a number of countries including Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 and Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. Almond has been critical of what he characterizes as Western interference with democracy, such as the activities of George Soros

George Soros

George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...

.

His research interests lie in 19th century and 20th century Central-Eastern Europe; Almond has written a biography of Nicolae

Nicolae Ceausescu

Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...

 and Elena Ceauşescu

Elena Ceausescu

Elena Ceaușescu was the wife of Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, and Deputy Prime Minister of Romania.-Background:She was born Elena Petrescu into a peasant family in Petrești commune, Dâmboviţa County, in the informal region of Wallachia. Her family was supported by her father's job...

, a study of Albanian migration, and a study of the Bosnian War

History of Bosnia and Herzegovina

-Pre-Slavic Period :Bosnia has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times. In the late Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes known as the Illyrians. Celtic migrations in the 4th and 3rd century BCE displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former...

 in its historical context. He has recently been teaching a course on 18th Century France, focusing on the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...

.

Currently he is delivering lectures on European History in Bilkent University

Bilkent University

İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, commonly referred to as Bilkent University or Bilkent, is the first private, nonprofit university in Turkey with the fundamental aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research...

.

Publications

• Revolution: 500 Years of Struggle for Change 1996 (London) , ISBN 1-899883-73-8
• Decline without fall: Romania under Ceausescu 1988 (London) Alliance Publishers, for the Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies, ISBN 0-907967-96-5
• Europe's backyard war: the war in the Balkans 1994 (London) Heinemann
  Heinemann (book publisher)
  Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by William Heinemann in Covent Garden, London in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday. It was later acquired by commemorate Thomas Tilling in 1961...
  
  , ISBN 0-434-00003-5
• National pacifism: Germany's new temptation 1991 (London) Alliance Publishers. ISBN 0-907967-26-4

Almond also writes articles for national papers such as New Statesman

New Statesman

New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....

, National Review

National Review

National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...

, and The Mail on Sunday

The Mail on Sunday

The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...

. Now he is giving lectures in Bilkent University in Turkey.