The Duck of Minerva

Peter Henne

Peter Henne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Global and Regional Studies Program at the University of Vermont. His research focuses on global religious politics and the Middle East. His first book, Islamic Politics, Muslim States and Counterterrorism Tensions, was published in 2017 by Cambridge University Press and he is currently working on a book analyzing how states try to use religion in foreign policy. His scholarly research has been published in International Journal of Religion, International Studies Perspectives, Journal of Church and State, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Politics and Religion, Religions, States and Societies, and Terrorism and Political Violence. In addition to the Duck, he has written for the Washington Post's Monkeycage, Political Violence at a Glance and The Huffington Post.

Recent Posts

Some just want to watch the world burn

Some just want to watch the world burn

by Peter Henne | 9 October, 2023 |

During a pivotal scene in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne talks with his butler/confidante Alfred about The Joker. Wayne suggests he can make sense of The Joker's motivation as a first step towards stopping his rampage. Alfred tells a story about an operation from his paramilitary career, in which a bandit leader was stealing precious jewels the government had handed out and tossing them in a river. Alfred suggest this was because some don't have a clear goal behind their violence; in his words, "some men just want to watch the world burn." I thought of this as I watched the...

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How do we get people to care about migrants?

How do we get people to care about migrants?

by Peter Henne | 15 August, 2023 |

Earlier this week, a boat carrying migrants fleeing Afghanistan sank in the English Channel, killing six. Earlier this month, 41 died after a ship sailing from Tunisia sank near Italy. There are many more examples of such tragedies I could point to, and, sadly, there will be many more in the future. These are not acts of God, like hurricanes or earthquakes. They are created, both through the conflict and repression producing the crises and the inaction of those who could protect these people. Long-serving Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte recently announced he would leave politics after his...

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Be wary of those calling for bans on blasphemy

Be wary of those calling for bans on blasphemy

by Peter Henne | 20 July, 2023 |

On Wednesday, protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, setting part of it on fire. This was in retaliation for the burning of the Quran during protests in Sweden. In response, the UN Human Rights Council called for restrictions on "anti-religious expression." Some may welcome this as a means to limit religious strife and stop Islamophobia, but they should be wary. These calls, in addition to being ineffective, often represent political calculations more than sincere religious concern. Blasphemy and free speech In late June an Iraqi Christian who fled that country staged a protest...

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Why would Scots be ambivalent about the monarchy? /s

Why would Scots be ambivalent about the monarchy? /s

by Peter Henne | 7 July, 2023 |

This week, King Charles had a second coronation in Scotland, following the official one in London. He took part in a parade through Edinburgh and received the Scottish crown jewels in St. Giles Cathedral. While this was not technically necessary, as England and Scotland share the same throne, it indicated his desire to unify Great Britain and increase his standing among Scots. They were, as the New York Times reported, "ambivalent." While many appeared to cheer the parade, many others protested. Charles is not polling very well in Scotland, where his mother seemed rather popular. What was...

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World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day

by Peter Henne | 27 June, 2023 |

World Refugee Day was last week (June 20). Ideally I would have written this then, but I haven't been as good on real-time commenting since Twitter fell apart. I still found it important to say something here, though. I am not an expert on this issue. I wrote one article on religious repression and forced migration, but my co-author had the subject matter expertise. I've written a few letters in support of asylum seeker resettlement in Vermont, using my understanding of the Middle East and Afghanistan to justify asylum claims. That being said, I'm getting to the point in my career where I...

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Security theater, path dependence, and snow globes

Security theater, path dependence, and snow globes

by Peter Henne | 22 June, 2023 |

I just returned from a two month fellowship at Edinburgh University, accompanied by my family. The trip included talks in Germany, Italy and England. These side-trips required a lot of packing, and generated a lot of souvenirs, specifically snow globes to mark each place we visited. This led to a problem when going through airport security, however. Snow globes count as liquids, and have to be included in those annoying little plastic bags; as a result, we had to find tiny snow globes to avoid the wrath of security agents. Failure to do so runs the risk of your bag being pulled aside to be...

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All hail International Relations’ lack of discipline!

All hail International Relations’ lack of discipline!

by Peter Henne | 25 May, 2023 |

UPDATE: As a commenter helpfully pointed out, the person whose tweet I'm responding to was a political science Professor, not a historian. This kind of messes with the framing of this post but rather than stealth re-write it I'll leave it as is and let you interpret my Freudian slip as you like When I was in grad school, my Department's grad student organization made shirts that read, "Political Science: Four sub-fields, no discipline." Behind this joke is a common observation about political science, that it is defined by its focus rather than a formal set of methods or theories. Not...

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Pope Francis’ peacebuilding on Ukraine may work…that’s not a good thing

Pope Francis’ peacebuilding on Ukraine may work…that’s not a good thing

by Peter Henne | 15 May, 2023 |

As a Turkey follower (I studied the country in grad school and wrote on it for my dissertation and first book) I've got thoughts on Turkey's elections. But as someone not interested in hot takes, I'm going to wait until the election is over to provide some analysis. Instead, I want to talk about Pope Francis' "peace talks" between Russia and Ukraine. The Pope recently announced "secret" peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, although neither side seemed to be aware of this. His efforts have progressed, however, with Ukraine President Zelensky's recent visit to Italy. I should be a fan of...

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The Iraq War didn’t kill liberal internationalism, just our ability to debate it

The Iraq War didn’t kill liberal internationalism, just our ability to debate it

by Peter Henne | 21 March, 2023 |

Twenty year recollections of the 2003 invasion of Iraq are popping up. Some are debating whether there were any positive outcomes from the war, others reflecting on what it meant for those who fought (on the US side) or suffered (on the Iraqi side). The Iraq war has played a big role in my career, but I wanted to talk about what it means for the liberal internationalist orientation to the world. The Iraq War and Me In the first lecture of my classes, I tell my students that the 9/11 attacks were my second week of college, and discuss what a big impact they had on my choice of career and...

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The transnational coalition that wasn’t: Russia, the West and Ukraine

The transnational coalition that wasn’t: Russia, the West and Ukraine

by Peter Henne | 24 February, 2023 |

One year ago, Russia launched an illegal war on Ukraine, committing horrific war crimes against the people of Ukraine. Analyses and memorials abound, and I'm probably not the only person writing about this on the Duck today. I wanted to address a specific aspect of this war, though: why Russia's carefully cultivated ties with far-right forces in Western Europe and the United States failed to undermine Western opposition to the war. Undermining opposition to the Russky Mir? Last year, as Russia was about to launch its invasion of Ukraine, I was finishing a chapter on Russia in my new book....

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