Dr. Peter O'Brien
      Professor
      (210) 999-8340

      pobrien@trinity.edu
    
      Research Interest:

       Europe's Relations with non-Europeans
      (past and present):  Islamophobia and
       Anti-Americanism

       Elitism in Europe (past and present)


      Notable Publications:

      
 European Perceptions of Islam and America From Saladin
        to George W. Bush: Europe's Fragile Ego Uncovered
        (New York: Palgrave, 2008)
       
http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=0230613055

       Beyond the Swastika: The Legacy of the  Holocaust and Postwar Immigration Policy in Germany (London: Routledge, 1996)
      
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Swastika-Peter-  Obrien/dp/0415138515/ref=sr_1_1?
       
       "Europe:  A Civilization on the Edge"  in Comparative                     Civilizations Review (Fall 2005):  52-85

       "Islamic Civilization's Role in the Waning
       of the European Middle Ages"  Medieval
       History Journal (October 1999): 387-404
 

   


Fall 2008
 


PLSI 1331-1

Comparing Countries

 


PLSI 1331-2

Comparing Countries

PLSI 3331-1

Political Economy of US, Europe & Japan

 

 

 

 

CURRICULUM VITAE

February 2007

PETER O'BRIEN

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

            Date and Place of Birth:  16 April 1960, in Grand Rapids, MI

            Current Address: Trinity University, 1 Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200

            Telephone Number: (210) 999-8340

            Fax Number: (210) 999-8320

            E-mail: pobrien@trinity.edu

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

            2000-present Professor of Political Science (Trinity University, San Antonio)

            2005-2006 Fulbright Senior Scholar (Humboldt University of Berlin)

            1995—1996 Fulbright Senior Lecturer (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul)

            1994-2000 Associate Professor of Political Science (Trinity University, San Antonio)

            1991-1994 Assistant Professor of Political Science (Trinity University, San Antonio)

            1988-1991 Assistant Professor of Political Science (Kalamazoo College)

            1986-1988 Berlin Program Fellow (Free University, Berlin)

 

EDUCATION:

             Undergraduate Training:

            1978-1982 Kalamazoo College, BA (Major: Political Science)

            Graduate Training:

            1982-1983 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Major: Political Science)

            1983-1988 University of Wisconsin-Madison

            1984 MA. in Political Science

            1988 Ph.D. in Political Science

 

MAJOR FIELDS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE:

             Comparative Politics (Europe), Political Theory, Religion and Politics, Public Administration

 MINOR FIELD:

             Middle East Studies

 LANGUAGES:

            
English, German, Turkish, Spanish

 PUBLICATIONS (BOOKS):

             Beyond the Swastika: The Legacy of the Holocaust and Postwar Immigration Policy in

            Germany (London: Routledge, 1996)

PUBLICATIONS (REFEREED):

             “America: A Civilization of Its Own?” Comparative Civilizations Review (forthcoming)

            “Europe: A Civilization on the Edge” Comparative Civilizations Review (Fall 2005): 52-85

             “Islamic Civilisation’s Role in the Waning of the European Middle Ages” Medieval History Journal (October 1999): 387-404

            “Race Is Dead.” Political Chronicle 11 (Spring 1999): 34-44

            "Germany's Newest Aliens: the East Germans" East European Quarterly (January 1997): 449-470

            "Unplanned Resistance: Turkish Immigrants in a Postmodern Germany" Boğaziçi Journal: Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies Vol. 10, No. 1-2 (1996): 77-88

            "Migration and Its Risks" International Migration Review 30/4(Fall 1996): 1067-77

            "Identity Crisis in the New Germany" Debatte 1(1994): 64-81

            "The Underside of John Locke's Philosophy: The Politics of Distrust" The Political Chronicle 6/1(1994): 1-8

            "Islam vs. Liberalism in Europe" The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (Fall 1993): 367-81

            "German-Polish Migrations: The Elusive Search for a German Nation-State” International Migration Review (Summer 1992): 373-87

            "The Civil Rights of West Germany's Migrants" German Politics and Society 19 (Spring 1990): 27-40

            "Continuity and Change in Germany's Treatment of Non-Germans" International Migration Review (Fall 1988): 110-34

 

PUBLICATIONS (NON-REFEREED):

             “Islam, Liberalism, and Xenophobia in Europe,” Islam: Portability & Exportability, ed., Samy Swayd
             (
Los  Angeles: Centers for Near Eastern and European Studies, UCLA, forthcoming)

 “Islam vs. Liberalism in Europe,” Working Paper No. 9 (Fall 2003), Center for Western European
  Studies,
 Kalamazoo College

Europe Pinched between Islam & America” Perihelion (28 April, 2003)

Europe and Its Muslims” Proceedings of ISSEI 2000 (Bergen: Humanities Information Technologies
  Research Programme of the University of
Bergen, 2000).

 “Platonism and Plagiarism at the End of the Middle Ages,” in Christianizing Peoples and Converting Individuals, eds., Guyda Armstrong and Ian Wood (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 303-20 

            "Islam in Europe," in ECSA Conference Papers (1995) on CD-ROM (Maastricht: Ellis, 1995)

            "Reflections on the Political Scholar," in The German Mosaic: Cultural and Linguistic

            Diversity in Society, ed., Carol Blackshire-Belay (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994), pp. 171-80

 

WORK IN PROGRESS:

            Fragile Ego: Europe’s Relations with Islam & America from Saladin to George W. Bush (book-length manuscript the University of North Carolina Press has agreed to referee)

            “Three Approaches to Immigration & Cultural Diversity: Nationalism, Liberalism, & Postmodernism” (analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of various policies toward Muslim minorities in Europe)

 

ACADEMIC DISTINCTIONS & HONORS:

             2007 Trinity University Summer Research Stipend

            2005-2006 Fulbright Senior Scholar, Institute for Social Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin

            2005-2006 Academic Leave from Trinity University

            2004 Fellow, the Institute for the International Education of Students Seminar on “US-EU Relations since 9/11 and the Iraq War,” University of Freiburg, Freiburg

            2002 Fulbright German Studies Seminar

            2002 Summer Research Stipend from Trinity University

            2000-2001 Academic Leave from Trinity University

            1999 Summer Research Stipend from Trinity University

            1998 Conference on European Problems Fellow “Meaning and Implications of the NATO and EU Extension”

            1997 Salzburg Seminar Fellow "Europe: Consolidation and Enlargement"

            1997 Trinity University Summer Research Stipend

            1995-1996 Fulbright Senior Lecturer at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey

            1995-1996 Academic Leave Award from Trinity University

            1993 Fellow in the Institute for European Studies' Faculty Seminar on "Germany after Unification, and the New Europe," Berlin, June 11-25

            1992 Summer Research Stipend from Trinity University

            1991 Research Fellowship from the Program for Inter-Institutional Collaboration in Area Studies at the University of Michigan

            1990 Kalamazoo College Light Grant for Academic Leave

            1990 Kalamazoo College Foreign Study Grant (Costa Rica and Nicaragua)

            1986-88 Dissertation Fellowship at the Free University of Berlin from the Social Science Research Council

            1986 Travel Grant from University of Wisconsin for Research in Turkey

            1985-86 Ogg Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison

            1985 Turkish Studies Fellowship from University of Wisconsin-Madison

            1982 Graduate Exchange Scholarship from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

 

PRESENTATIONS BY INVITATION:

             “The Head-Scarf Debate in Philosophical Perspective.” Paper presented to the Society for
              Religious Studies,
Bayreuth University, June 21, 2006

            “Comparing Immigration Policies in Europe: Assimilation, Integration and Multiculturalism.”  Paper presented in the “Perspectives on European Integration” series of the Institute for Social Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, May 17, 2006

            “Before Western Hegemony: The Oriental Influence on the Occident during the Middle Ages and Early Modernity.” Atlantische Akademie, Birkenfeld, May 11, 2006

America: Europe’s Modern Rival.” Paper presented at the Institute for American Studies, University of Leipzig, May 2, 2006

“US-European Relations in Historical Perspective.” Paper presented at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, May 3, 2006

            “Immigration & Islam in Europe: Liberal, Nationalist & Postmodern Strategies.” Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University, March 28, 2006

            “Three Approaches to the Threat of Terrorism: Liberalism, Nationalism & Postmodernism.” Institute for Social Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, February 16, 2006.

            “Islam in Germany: A Briefing.” Embassy of the United States of America, Berlin, January 19, 2006.

            “Three Competing Moral Approaches to Immigration & Cultural Diversity: Nationalism, Liberalism & Postmodernism.” Paper presented to the joint conference of the German Marshall Fund and the European Forum for Migration Studies at Bamberg University entitled “The Role of Religion for Integration,” Berlin, November 25, 2005

            “The West and the Rest.” Babson College, Wellesley, MA December 8, 2004

            “America: Europe’s Modern Rival.” Keynote address to the Institute for the International Education of Students Seminar on “US-EU Relations since 9/11 and the Iraq War,” University of Freiburg, Freiburg, June 13, 2004

            “The Problem with Islam in Europe.” Center for European and East European Studies, UCLA, Los Angeles, May 24, 2004

“Islam and Integration in Europe.” Paper presented to the “Conference on the Integration of Immigrants from Turkey in Belgium, Denmark, France and Sweden,” Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, March 26, 2004.

             “Islam and Liberalism in Europe.” Keynote address to the conference on “Islam in Europe,” Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, April 12, 2003

            “Islamic Civilization’s Role in the European Renaissance.” Keynote address to the conference on “Perceiving the Arab World and Islam: A Dialogue,” University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, February 13, 1999

            Testimony before the United States Commission on Immigration Reform. Austin, TX, January 17, 1995

            "The Ossis: Germany's Newest Ausländer." A paper presented in the guest-lecture series of the Department of Germanic Languages at the University of Texas, Austin, April 9, 1992

            "German-Polish Migration." A paper presented at the conference on "The New Europe and International Migration," Turin, Italy, November 25, 1991

            "Betrachtungen zum Politischen."  A paper presented at the Humboldt University in the research seminar "Migration und ethnische Beziehungen," Berlin, June 3, 1991

            "Deutschlands Türkenproblem." Paper presented at the Berliner Institut für Vergleichende Sozialforschung, Berlin, January 23, 1990

            "Formen Politischen Widerstands auf dem Land in der Türkei und im Ghetto in der Bundesrepublik." Paper presented at the Berliner Institut für Vergleichende Sozialforschung, Berlin, 3 February, 1987

  

CONFERENCE PAPERS:

             “Three Approaches to Immigration: Liberalism, Nationalism & Postmodernism.” A paper presented at the
              Meeting of the International Political Science Association, Fukuoka, July 13, 2006

            “The Case for American Civilization.” A paper presented at the annual meeting of the International
              Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, Minneapolis, June 10, 2005

            “America: A Civilization of Its Own.” A paper presented at the annual meeting of the International
             Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, St. Petersburg, Russia, September 16, 2003

            “East Meets West: Islam and the European Renaissance.” A paper delivered at the Meeting of the
              International Society for the Study of European Ideas, Aberystwyth Wales, 23 July, 2002

             “The Limits of Liberalism: Europe and Its Muslims.” A paper presented at the annual meeting of the
              American Political Science Association, San Francisco, September 1, 2001

“Beyond the Swastika: Germany’s Postwar Immigration Policy.” A paper presented at the annual
  meeting of the German Studies Association,
Houston, October 7, 2000

Europe & Its Muslims.” A paper presented at the meeting of the International Society for the
 Study of European Ideas, Bergen Norway,
August 16, 2000

            “Europe Eclipsed: A Millennium of Marginality.” A paper presented at the annual meeting
 of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, St. Louis
, May 21, 1999

            “Backward Europe.” A paper presented at the meeting of the International Studies Association/Midwest,
 
Chicago, November 7, 1998

            “Race is Dead.” A paper prepared for the meeting of the International Society for the Study of
European Ideas,
Haifa, July 20, 1998

            "Platonism and Plagiarism at the End of the Middle Ages." A paper presented at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, July 15, 1997

            "Unorganized Resistance: Underprivileged Minorities in a Postmodern European Union." A paper presented at the International Conference of the European Community Studies Association, Seattle, June 1, 1997

            "Migration and Its Risks." A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the German Studies Association, Chicago, September 23, 1995

            "Islam in Europe." A paper presented at the Meeting of the European Community Studies Association, Charleston, May 13, 1995

            "Ossis Germany's Newest Ausländer."  A paper presented at the annual meeting of the German Studies Association, Dallas, September 30, 1994

            "Nationalism, Liberalism and Political Identity in Germany."  A paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., September 3, 1993

            "Identity Crisis in the New Germany."  A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Political Science Association, New Orleans, March 20, 1993

            "West European Reactions to East European Migration."  A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Phoenix, November 21, 1992

            "Islam vs. Liberalism in Europe."  A paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Washington, D.C., November 6, 1992

            "Identity Crisis in the New Germany." A paper presented at the meeting of the German Studies Association, Minneapolis, October 8, 1992 

            "Migration Crisis in the European Community."  Presentation made at the meeting of the Southwest Association of the Social Sciences, Austin, April 9, 1992

            "Which of These Migrants Really Belong to Us?" A paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Washington, D.C., September 3, 1991

            "The Political Scholar."  A paper presented at the 1991 International Symposium on Germanic Languages and Literatures, Columbus, OH, March 15, 1991

            "The Changing Environment of Migration in West Europe."  A paper presented at the Seventh International Conference of Europeanists, Washington, D.C., March 23, 1990

"Civil Rights for West Germany's Migrants."  A paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, September 3, 1989

            "Religious Education for Turks in West Germany: An Interpretation of Inter-Group Conflict."  A paper presented at the 1985 Annual Conference of the Middle East Studies Association, New Orleans, 25 November 1985

 

COURSES TAUGHT:

             Introduction to Political Philosophy

            Comparing Countries

            Political Economy

            European Politics

            Power and Knowledge

            Politics of American Minorities

            Introduction to Comparative Politics

            Politics of the Middle East

            Contemporary Political Thought

 

SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION:

             Member, International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations

                        Steering Committee (2005-present)

            Member, Fulbright Review Board

            Member, American Political Science Association

            Member, Conference Group on German Politics

            Member, European Union Studies Association

            Member, German Studies Association

            Member, Middle East Studies Association

            Regularly review books and articles for International Migration Review & Comparative Civilizations Review.