September, 2009
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 Social Science Research Council 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), Immigration, Political Theory,
Religion and Politics
MINOR FIELD:
Middle East
Studies
LANGUAGES:
English, German, Turkish, Spanish
PUBLICATIONS (BOOKS):
European Perceptions of Islam & America from Saladin to George W. Bush:
Europe’s
Fragile Ego Uncovered
(New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009)
Beyond the Swastika: The Legacy of the Holocaust and Postwar Immigration
Policy in
Germany
(London: Routledge, 1996)
PUBLICATIONS (REFEREED):
“Making (Normative) Sense of the Headscarf Debate in Europe”
German Politics and Society
27/3(Autumn 2009): 66-92
“America: A Civilization of Its Own?”
Comparative Civilizations Review
(Fall 2007): 29-52
“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,” in
Islam: Portability & Exportability,
ed., Samy Swayd (Los Angeles:
Centers for Near Eastern and European Studies, UCLA, 2007)
“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:
“Clashes within
Western Civilization: The Politics and Ethics of Immigration” (analysis of
the philosophical underpinnings of various policies toward Muslim minorities
in Europe)
ACADEMIC DISTINCTIONS & HONORS:
2009 Trinity University Summer Research Stipend
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:
“Making
(Normative) Sense of the Headscarf Debate in Europe.” Paper presented in the
Department of Government, University of Texas, Austin, April 22, 2009
“European Perceptions of Islam & America from Saladin to George W. Bush:
Europe’s Fragile Ego Uncovered.” Presentation at the Center for European
Studies, University of Texas, Austin, April 22, 2009
“Religion, Ethics, Political
Philosophy, and Immigration.” Presentation given at Furman University on
October 31, 2008
Interviewee for KQED’s radio program “Forum” focusing on Islam in Europe,
November
28, 2007
“Who Is Right & Who Is Wrong in the Headscarf Debate?” Paper presented at Bremen
University, June 18, 2007
“Is There a Philosophically Superior
Solution to the Headscarf Controversy?”
Paper
presented at the Otto-Suhr Institute, Free University, Berlin, June 12,
2007, and
the
Institute for Social Sciences, Humboldt
University
of Berlin, June 13,
2007
“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:
“Ethical Debates about Islam in Europe.” Paper presented at the Meeting
of the International Studies Association, New York, February 17, 2009
“The Ethics of Immigration in Germany.” Paper presented at the Meeting of
the German Studies Association, St.
Paul, October 4, 2008
“Making (Normative) Sense of the Immigration Debate.” A paper presented
at the Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, August 31, 2008
“The Battle
over the Headscarf: Liberals, Nationalists & Postmodernists.”
A paper presented at the Meeting of the German Studies Association, San Diego, October 5, 2007
“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
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Political Economy
European Politics
Power and Knowledge
Politics of Minority Groups
Politics of the Middle East
Senior Seminar in Political Science
Contemporary Political Thought
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