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

Does this mean Assad would have fallen ten years ago?

Does this mean Assad would have fallen ten years ago?

by Peter Henne | 10 December, 2024 |

Like many who follow the Middle East, a lot has been going through my head since the civil war there suddenly reignited and Bashar al-Assad's regime even more suddenly fell. Will the victims of his persecution now get justice? Will this weaken Russia and Iran in the region? Is the Islamist group that's now in charge, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as moderate as they claim? Will this make things worse for the Middle East's already beleaguered Christians? One question that keeps coming to the fore for me, however, has to do with US foreign policy discussions about ten years ago. The civil war was...

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Who is behind the terrorist attack in Ankara?

Who is behind the terrorist attack in Ankara?

by Peter Henne | 24 October, 2024 |

On October 23rd, militants attacked a Turkish aerospace facility near the capital of Ankara. The Turkish government blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)--a Kurdish insurgent group--and launched retaliatory airstrikes. It is very plausible that the PKK is behind this, given the group's history. But the group has also tellingly not claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Turkish government has an incentive to blame the group. Thankfully, terrorism studies scholars have looked into whether and when groups claim attack, and that may give us some insight into what happened here. The...

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Was the Trump shooting terrorism?

Was the Trump shooting terrorism?

by Peter Henne | 15 July, 2024 |

The implications of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump over the weekend remain unclear. Will it lead him to strike a more conciliatory tone during the upcoming Republican National Convention? Will it make more Americans sympathize with him? And then there are the questions of what led to the shooting. Why did this individual try to kill Trump? These questions were intensified by the news that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the incident as domestic terrorism. It is too early to conclusively determine why this happened--and we may never know as the...

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Eurovision suggests both sides on Israel-Palestine need to invest in some public diplomacy

Eurovision suggests both sides on Israel-Palestine need to invest in some public diplomacy

by Peter Henne | 13 May, 2024 |

Last year I was on a sabbatical in Edinburgh, and my family and I watched Eurovision for the first time. We loved the out-there electro-pop versions of local folk music, got bored by the slow ballads, and generally bought into the hype. This year, we were excited to discover it was streaming for US audiences on Peacock, and watched again. I assumed there would be some tensions over Israel's participation, and was right. There were protests both outside and inside the concert hall against Israel's contestant. I thought this might lead Israel to do badly in the contest. Surprisingly, I was...

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Israel protesters may be missing their best opportunity to help Gaza

Israel protesters may be missing their best opportunity to help Gaza

by Peter Henne | 9 May, 2024 |

Even though the school year is ending, protests against Israel--most prominent on college campuses--will likely continue. Beginning at Columbia University, they gained attention and spread after a heavy-handed police response. Prompted by the Israeli attack on Gaza (retaliation for Hamas' attack on Israel), student protesters are calling on their universities to take action in opposition to Israel such as divestment from companies that do business in Israel. Much of the debate has focused on the protesters themselves. Are they protected free speech? Are they anti-Semitic? Are they driven by...

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On Israel-Palestine, don’t ignore grassroots efforts at peace

On Israel-Palestine, don’t ignore grassroots efforts at peace

by Peter Henne | 18 March, 2024 |

I recently submitted the below letter to Foreign Affairs in response to their latest issue's set of essays on Israel-Palestine peace. They decided not to run it, and I assume that's because of all the letters they get. However, I worry that we ignore the small-scale peace efforts that may be the best way to advance peace (or see them as problematic) so I wanted to post it here and try to make the case for them. My letter to Foreign Affairs To the editor,             I commend Foreign Affairs for the set of essays in the March/April 2024 issue exploring whether and how peace is still possible...

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Liberty’s in every blow!

Liberty’s in every blow!

by Peter Henne | 31 January, 2024 |

Scotland's independence drive won't disappear anytime soon. In "Scots Wha Hae," (from which the title of this post comes) Robert Burns calls on Scots to remember their victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn, and never lose their desire for independence. Observers of UK politics, who assume Scottish independence is dead, would be well-served to re-read this poem. Why some are writing off Scottish independence In a recent article on Scottish politics, The Economist mocked a statement by Humza Yousaf--Scotland's First Minister--that an industrial policy modeled on US President...

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I can’t believe I need to explain why the Houthis aren’t heroes

I can’t believe I need to explain why the Houthis aren’t heroes

by Peter Henne | 16 January, 2024 |

International relations discourse tends to be a bit wonkier than domestic American political debates. While this leads to the frequent lament, from voices like Dan Drezner, that American voters don't care about international relations, it also insulates us from the more frustrating aspects of American politics. IR scholars don't usually have to deal with knee-jerk activisty hot takes. Well, we do now. Apparently leftists think the Houthis--a militant group based in Yemen--are admirable anti-imperialist activists. This is because they've been attacking international shipping in protest of...

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The misuse of the Christmas story, and why it matters for international relations

The misuse of the Christmas story, and why it matters for international relations

by Peter Henne | 27 December, 2023 |

A controversy broke out the weekend before Christmas, when Fr. Edward Beck, a Roman Catholic priest, claimed Jesus was a "Palestinian Jew" while discussing the current war between Israel and Hamas. Some may dismiss this as a disingenuous conservative freak-out; for example, the article I linked to was in the New York Post and figures such as Stephen Miller and Erick Erickson were among the outraged. This would be a mistake. Fr. Beck was inaccurate, and such inaccuracies actually make it harder to build peace in the region. History and Christmas Americans are used to fights over the "true...

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When is it ok to express concern about persecuted Christians?

When is it ok to express concern about persecuted Christians?

by Peter Henne | 18 December, 2023 |

The ongoing war in Gaza has stretched on for over two months after the horrific October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel, which resulted in Hamas killing over 1000 Israelis and kidnapping over 200. Israel's subsequent airstrikes and ground invasion have killed over 10,000 Palestinians (with the Hamas-run Gaza Health Authority report numbers approaching 20,000). With the war now drawing close to Christmas, some are paying attention to the status and responses of Palestinian Christians. Christians make up a small minority of Palestinians, with only about 1,000 in the Gaza Strip and about...

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