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

Was the Colorado nightclub attack terrorism? Does it matter?

Was the Colorado nightclub attack terrorism? Does it matter?

by Peter Henne | 21 November, 2022 |

Once again, America is enduring the horrors of a mass shooting. This time a gunman attacked a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, opening fire before patrons grabbed his weapon and beat him with it. As of the time of writing (Monday morning) five are dead, and there are fears the number will increase. And once again, we are trying to make sense of this. Why did the shooter do this? What could have prevented this? Was this "random, senseless" violence or a targeted attack? Or was it something more, a terrorist attack against the country's LGBTQ population? What makes something terrorism?...

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No, social science didn’t kill international relations, part 58

No, social science didn’t kill international relations, part 58

by Peter Henne | 9 November, 2022 |

Earlier this week, professional opinion-haver Tom Nichols posted a "short" Twitter thread complaining that the push to make IR a social science, combined with the dominance of realism, is leading to bad takes on Ukraine. Despite my mindfulness-inspired efforts to ignore annoyances on social media, I felt compelled to respond (with the above picture). I was tempted to leave it at that, but this sort of argument appears every five years or so, usually by someone who is far from connected to current trends in IR. So, as I attempted with Dying to Win, I decided to write a post we could resurrect...

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Peace, Just Peace, and Ukraine

Peace, Just Peace, and Ukraine

by Peter Henne | 7 October, 2022 |

Many around the world are on edge over the possibility of Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons to stem Ukraine's battlefield successes. This has revived calls, present since before Putin invaded Russia's neighbor, to negotiate a way out of this war. Those issuing these calls see themselves as defenders of peace, but they are missing a major portion of what peace requires. Calls for "peace" Many in America have urged restraint in our dealings with Russia, in the hopes that this will ease Putin's antagonistic policies. President Obama hesitated to take action when Russia seized part...

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What makes for a successful conference?

What makes for a successful conference?

by Peter Henne | 23 September, 2022 |

Like many, I've finally gotten back on schedule after the American Political Science Association conference last week. The travel was easier for me than most others; the site, Montreal, is only two miles from home so I didn't have to deal with any airline mishaps. But I still, as always, wonder if the trip was worth it. Even though it's covered by my research budget, do I get enough out of these conferences to justify the time away from my family and all the coursework I have to catch up on? How would I even know? Shifting views of conference success I had unreasonable expectations for my...

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The Qatar crisis ends…in the most boring way possible

The Qatar crisis ends…in the most boring way possible

by Peter Henne | 2 September, 2022 |

The Qatar crisis threatened to upend Middle East politics. Instead, it fizzled out. That says a lot about international relations, and how to study it. In June 2017, Saudi Arabia and the UAE--along with a few other states--announced a blockade of Qatar. Frustrated with Qatar's tolerance of revolutionary actors during the Arab Spring protests and relative friendliness with Iran, these states cut Qatar off from international travel and commerce. They issued a series of demands, including ending support for groups the Saudis deemed extremist and limiting ties with Iran. [sc name="left_call_out"...

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Will there be a bin Laden of right-wing extremism?

Will there be a bin Laden of right-wing extremism?

by Peter Henne | 20 May, 2022 |

By now it’s clear that the attack on a Buffalo, NY supermarket was a case of right-wing terrorism. An individual targeted the store because many of its customers were black, and hoped to use the attack to make a broader political statement. Unfortunately, such attacks are growing in intensity, and these right-wing terrorists seem to be learning from each other. The next stage for this movement will depend on which historical model it follows: that of the 1800s anarchists or al-Qaeda. The growing threat from right-wing extremism The tragedy in Buffalo is only the latest in a wave of...

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A tale of two realisms

A tale of two realisms

by Peter Henne | 3 March, 2022 |

It's been a rough week for John Mearsheimer. He has come under a barrage of criticism for his claim that Russia's aggression towards Ukraine is the West's fault. His theoretical tradition, realism, has also come under fire, for producing not only (arguably) bad policy takes but policy takes that don't seem to flow from the theory itself. Does this mean that all of realism is flawed? I would argue no, by pointing to another target of such claims, Stephen Walt. This says something about how to make/keep realism relevant. The trouble with realism? Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine,...

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How do we get IR to notice something?

How do we get IR to notice something?

by Peter Henne | 23 February, 2022 |

I excitedly read this recent tweet by Evan Perkoski of UConn, about a new article he co-authored that has been accepted in International Organization. Beyond being glad for a colleague's success, I was excited by the substance of the publication. They produced a new dataset on violent non-state actors and analyzed the conditions under which they cooperated, finding a major role for both group ideology and religious identity. That is huge! Well-crafted data published in one of the top journals in the sub-field that found that religion drives a crucially important security issue. This should...

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Why we should call 1/6/21 a terrorist attack

Why we should call 1/6/21 a terrorist attack

by Peter Henne | 6 January, 2022 |

One year ago today, a pro-Trump crowd attempted to shut down the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory. America is still making sense of it. We're debating how it could have been prevented, whether it can happen again, how to prevent it happening again. But there's also a foundational debate about what to call the events of the day. I would argue 1/6/21 needs to be called a terrorist attack, for both conceptual and strategic reasons. And this need reveals the importance of the term "terrorism," despite its many detractors. What to call that day? There have been various labels for...

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