This week I am in Washington, DC, attending the ISAC/ISSS conference–APSA and ISA’s international security section conference–held at American University. I am presenting my new research on Middle East conflicts, a paper analyzing how informal hierarchy and status competition contributed to the Six Day War.

An article I co-authored with Jason Klocek of UC-Berkeley has been published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution’s early access section (for forthcoming articles that have not yet appeared in print). In it, we argue that religious conflict makes states wary of religion in general, leading to widespread religious freedom abuses. It should be of interest to those working on conflict, human rights, and religion and politics.

I recently had an article accepted for publication at the Journal of Church and State. 

The article, “Does the UN Human Rights Council help or hurt on religious repression,” addresses the debate over this international body. Some believe it will help advance human rights, while others argue it provides a platform for human rights abusers to redirect international attention. I found that states that were more active on the Human Rights Council had higher levels of domestic religious repression. I argued this is because they could use the Council to deflect criticism of their record.

The article is part of my broader work on the nature and effects of religious repression, which expands on some of the theories in my book. It may not be out for awhile, but the working paper version is up on my Publications page.

I have a piece in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage today, which features political science research applied to current events. In it, I discuss the difficulties the United States will face pressuring Pakistan on counterterrorism, due to the historical context of Pakistan’s counterterrorism policies. The piece draws on my book, Islamic Politics, Muslim States and Counterterrorism Tensions.

I also spoke recently with the Research on Religion podcast. This series features new research on religion. In this episode I discussed my book and my broader work.

I recently did a Q&A with the National Consortium for Terrorism and the Study of Terrorism (START), a terrorism research center at the University of Maryland. I worked with START on a study of domestic extremism after I completed my doctoral studies.

In the Q&A, I discuss my recently published book–Islamic Politics, Muslim States and Counterterrorism Tensions–my broader work, and why UVM is such a great place to be a Professor. You can read more here.

Recently Donald Trump nominated Sam Brownback–the governor of Kansas–to be the US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom. This is an issue I worked on before coming to UVM (when I was with the Pew Research Center) so I follow it closely. I have some concerns about Brownback’s nomination, which I discussed in this post on Medium. I also was quoted in a piece by the Religion News Service about Brownback’s nomination.

Summer’s been pretty busy, so I am a bit late on updating things.

First, I had a blog post as part of the Religious Freedom Institute’s Cornerstone Blog series on religious freedom and counterterrorism. I drew from my book to discuss how differing levels of religious freedom affected counterterrorism, arguing there are some trade-offs in the short-term but in the long-term promoting religious freedom will help undermine terrorism. Two other experts in this subject also weighed in, so check out their posts too.

I also talked with a reporter from the Associated Press about T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). Lawrence had a famous Rolls Royce he used to drive into Damascus in 1918, and a military historian thought he discovered some of its secrets. I weighed in about Lawrence’s legacy for the Middle East. You can find the story here.

Finally, I helped out with the UVM’s summer orientation for incoming first-year students, working with new Political Science majors as they registered for classes. It was exciting to meet some of my new students, and I’m looking forward to teaching them in the fall.

I recently published a blog post on Medium about the currently expanding Qatar crisis. Drawing on my book, I discuss some of the UAE’s potential motivations for its role in the crisis, and how this can help us resolve tensions. You can read it here. Comments are welcome.