Dr Peter S. Henne
IASH-Alwaleed Research Fellow, March-May 2023
Home institution: University of Vermont
Peter S. Henne is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont, and Director of its Middle East Studies program. His research focuses on international religious politics and political violence. Prof. Henne’s first book explored Islam and counterterrorism while his forthcoming book analyzes how states try to use religion as a tool in power politics. He has also published extensively in scholarly journals, and written for such popular outlets as the Monkeycage and The Duck of Minerva. Prof. Henne received his PhD from Georgetown University, and BA from Vassar College.
Project title: Network analysis’ potential to reclaim agency in the study of international Islamic politics: the question of a “Muslim world”
Much research on international Islamic politics occurs through a Western lens, while dominant trends in the study of international relations tend to focus on Western contexts. Much of this is due to theoretical biases in contemporary international relations. Some of it, however, has to do with the type of quantitative data and methods available to analyze international relations. I argue that network analysis can provide more nuanced studies of international Islamic politics that reclaim agency while preserving positivist approaches. Network analysis focuses on the connections that form between actors, rather than the attributes of these actors or the outcomes of these attributes. Network data provides a richer set of information about states’ interactions, allowing researchers to look beyond static phenomena like conflicts or alliances. Network analyses allow for nuanced measurement of states’ influence over each other and changing patterns of conflict and cooperation. The use of network analysis, then, can allow researchers to study Middle East international Islamic politics on its own terms, rather than through comparison to global trends or research questions based on US priorities.
I approach this empirically, testing the perennial question of whether a “Muslim world”—a sphere of distinct political and social activity among Muslim societies—exists. Debates on this question tend to veer between Orientalist generalizations and equally broad rejections of Islam’s importance, while post-positivist arguments about distinct Islamic international relations have yet to be tested systematically. Using extensive data on international interactions and network methods intended to identify cliques and patterns in network ties, I will assess whether separate Islamic international relations exist using the actual behavior of Muslims rather than Western impressions and generalizations.