Welcome
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Vermont. I am also Director of the Middle East studies program, and affiliated with the Global and Regional Studies program. I am an expert in Middle East politics, terrorism, and religious politics. I am available for media commentary and data analysis on these issues. My contact information is available here.
My forthcoming book, Religious appeals in power politics, explores the ways states try to use religion as a tool in international affairs and why this often fails. The book looks at Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Russia, and makes a provocative claim about the role of religion in international relations. Read more on the book here.
I am also working on a project–funded by Notre Dame’s Global Religion Research Institute–that applies network analysis to the study of international religious politics. I have several working papers in this area; you can find more information here. I have also published work related to this project in the International Journal of Religions, International Studies Perspectives, and Religions.
My earlier work looked at the impact of religion on political violence and the effects of close ties between religion and state. My first book, Islamic Politics, Muslim States and Counterterrorism Tensions was published in 2017 by Cambridge University Press. In it I presented an institutional approach to religion and international relations, focusing on the manner in which ties between religion and state affect the power of religious issues. The book focuses on Muslim states’ cooperation with America during the Global War on Terrorism. The book includes a quantitative analysis using original data on counterterrorism cooperation and case studies of Pakistan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. This also included articles in Journal of Church and State, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Politics and Religion, Religion, State and Society and Terrorism and Political Violence.
Explore this site to find more information on my publications, research, teaching and other activities. The latest updates on my work are available here. Students, information on my courses and advising can be found on my Teaching page and my profile on the UVM Political Science website.
