research on religion & politics
My research on religion and politics developed out of my interest in rent-seeking activities of interest groups, and their interactions with political parties. It ranges from the socio-political activities of the Catholic Church to those of Muslims in Europe.
My first book on this subject, Confessions of an Interest Group: the Catholic Church and Political Parties in Europe, (Princeton 2000) applies micro-economic theories of the firm to an unlikely subject: the Catholic Church, and to a somewhat languishing sub-field, that of interest group analysis. I argue that the Church is an interest group whose actions can be modeled as if it were a firm in a market seeking a supplier of goods, with the supplier being a political party. I test the argument with a comparative study of Church-party interaction in France, Italy, and Germany, using archival and secondary data, both qualitative and quantitative.
The book demonstrates, first, that the extent and durability of interest group/party linkages vary according to institutional and informal solutions to contracting problems, and to organizational definitions of "self-interest." Second, it shows that, while it is a tempting simplification, interest groups and parties which seem ideologically related are not interchangeable; they have divergent motivations and goals which substantially condition their ability to ally with each other. Third, it underlines the competition between interest groups and parties for claims to construct, represent and act on particular identities. Finally, it underscores the analytical importance of specifying the contracting constraints, such as specific assets and risks of malfeasance, in explaining party-interest group interactions, including even those of the Roman Catholic Church.
While completing that book, I was teaching a course about ethno-nationalism and immigration in Europe and began learning about Muslim immigrants. Struck by the apparent lack of peak organizations for Muslims in Europe, in contrast to those for Catholics, I began hypothesizing why that might be the case. My research on this has focused on the structure of the religion itself, and the national and ethnic origins of Muslims in Europe. I have collaborated with Manfred Wenner for an article currently under review on this topic (an earlier version has been posted at: http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/programs/prpes/ , paper # 17).
With George Thomas of ASU/Sociology and School of Global Studies, Tony Gill (University Washington, Political Science), Steve Pfaff (University of Washington, Sociology) and Sam Cherribi (Emory University, Carter Center), I am expanding the research on Islam and Muslims in Europe. We are exploring the impact and interaction of Muslims on and with European societies and states. In particular, this research project has two prongs. First, it seeks to understand how and why the issue of Islam has, in essence, crystallized into a ban on headscarves in France, race riots in Britain, a questioning of tolerance in the Netherlands, a debate about citizenship in Germany and the re-assertion of Christianity in Italy. Second, it seeks to understand the conditions under which Muslims organize politically, by and large failing to create large, popularly legitimated representative organizations and instead remain highly fragmented and decentralized.
My research with Thomas, Gill and Pfaff has benefitted from a seed grant from ASU's Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict. We are preparing several large grant applications to support the research.