Matt Buehler
Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy, Department of Political Science
1001 McClung Avenue, University of Tennessee
(503) 341-4871 • mbuehle2@utk.edu
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ACADEMIC POSITIONS
08/2021 - present Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee
01/2017 - 12/2017 Research Fellow, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Middle East Initiative
08/2015 - present Global Security Fellow, Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy
08/2014 - 08/2021 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee
08/2013 - 08/2014 Post-doctoral Fellow, Georgetown University, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in Qatar,
Center for International & Regional Studies
PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
09/2020 - present Vice Chair, APSA Middle East and North Africa Politics Section
08/2020 - present Co-editor, Edinburgh Studies on the Maghreb, Edinburgh University Press
06/2019 - present Editor, Mediterranean Politics
03/2016 - 06/2019 Book Reviews Editor & Research Notes Editor, Mediterranean Politics
EDUCATION
University of Texas at Austin, Department of Government, 2013 - Ph.D., Government
Subfields: Comparative Politics and International Relations
University of Texas at Austin, Department of Government, 2009 - M.A., Government
University of Damascus, Syria, 2007 - Certificate, Advanced-High Proficiency in Arabic
Willamette University, 2007 - cum laude
AWARDS
2018 Early-Career Excellence in Research and Creative Achievement Award. University of Tennessee, College of Arts and Sciences.
2019 SERMEISS Book Award (Southeast Regional Middle East & Islamic Studies Society) for Why Alliances Fail: Islamist and Leftist Coalitions in North Africa.
2019 SERMEISS Article Award (honorable mention) (Southeast Regional Middle East & Islamic Studies Society) for “The Autocrat’s Advisors: Opening the Black-Box of Ruling Coalitions in Tunisia’s Authoritarian Regime.”
PEER REVIEWED BOOK
Why Alliances Fail: Islamist and Leftist Coalitions in North Africa (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2018), 304 pp.
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Reviewed in: Perspectives on Politics, Politics and Religion, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Journal of North African Studies, Mediterranean Politics and Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos.
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS
“Racism and Labor Market Threat (Mis)Perceptions: An Original Survey Exploring Moroccan Attitudes about sub-Saharan Migrants (with Kristin Fabbe and Eleni Kyrkopoulou). Revise and resubmit at the Industrial and Labor Relations Review.
“Who Would Trust a Nuclear Umbrella? An Original Survey Gauging Public Confidence in Future Nuclear Guarantees in Morocco” (with Arjun Banerjee). The Nonproliferation Review. Forthcoming.
“Thy Neighbor’s Gendarme? How Citizens of Buffer States in North Africa View European Border Security Externalization” (with Kristin Fabbe and Eleni Kyrkopoulou). Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies. Forthcoming.
“The International Sources of Prejudice toward Shi‘a in the Middle East and North Africa: Original Survey Evidence from Morocco.” (with Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl). Mediterranean Politics. Forthcoming.
“Divergent Opposition to Sub-Saharan African and Arab Migrants in Morocco’s Casablanca Region: Prejudice from the Pocketbook?” (with Kyung Joon Han). British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 48, No. 3 (2021), pp. 492-514.
“How Does Legalization Alter Islamists’ Electoral Strategies? A Comparative Study of Mauritania’s Tawassoul Party in the 2006 and 2013 Local Elections.” L’Année du Maghreb, Vol. 23 (2020), pp. 303-323.
"Community-level Postmaterialism and Anti-Migrant Attitudes: An Original Survey on Opposition to Sub-Saharan African Migrants in the Middle East." (with Kristin Fabbe and Kyung Joon Han). International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 3 (2020), pp. 669-683.
“Judges, Bribes, and Verdicts: How Court Experience Reshapes Attitudes about Judicial Corruption among Morocco’s Most Marginalized.” Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 25, No. 3 (2020). pp. 650-672.
“Who Endorses Amnesty? An Original Survey from Morocco’s Casablanca Region Assessing Citizen Support for Regularizing Clandestine Migrants.” (with Kyung Joon Han). Review of Middle East Studies (RoMES), Vol. 52, No. 2 (2018), pp. 283-298.
“The Autocrat’s Advisors: Opening the Black-Box of Ruling Coalitions in Tunisia’s Authoritarian Regime.” (with Mehdi Ayari). Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 4 (2018), pp. 330-346.
“Do You Have ‘Connections’ at the Courthouse? An Original Survey on Informal Influence and Judicial Rulings in Morocco.” Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 4 (2016), pp. 760-772.
“Continuity through Co-optation: Rural Politics and Regime Resilience in Morocco and Mauritania.” Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2015), pp. 364-385.
“Labor Demands, Regime Concessions: Moroccan Unions and the Arab Uprisings.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 42, No. 1 (2015), pp. 88-103.
“The Threat to ‘Un-Moderate’: Moroccan Islamists and the Arab Spring.” Middle East Law and Governance, Vol. 5, No. 3 (2013), pp. 1-27.
“Safety-Valve Elections in the Arab Spring: The Weakening (and Resurgence) of Morocco’s Islamist Opposition Party.” Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 25, No. 1 (2013), pp. 137-156.
“Urban Bias, Rural Embeddedness: Using the Rural-Urban Divide to Explain Political Party Organizational and Ideological Development in the MENA” in Francesco Cavatorta, Lise Storm, and Valeria Resta (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Political Parties in the Middle East and North Africa. (with Allison Critcher). Routledge, 2021, pp. 307-318.
“Integrating African Migrants? Gauging Citizen Opposition to Migrant Resettlement in Morocco’s Casablanca region.” in Zahra Babar (ed.), Mobility and Forced Displacement in the Middle East (with Kyung Joon Han). Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 165-186.
“Mauritania’s Uprisings and Aftermath,” in Stephen King and Abdeslam Maghraoui (eds.), The Lure of Authoritarianism: The Maghreb after the Arab Spring. (with Mehdi Ayari). Indiana University Press, 2019, pp. 283-307.
“Labor Protest in Morocco,” in Osama Abi-Mershed (ed.), Social Currents in North Africa: Culture and Governance after the Arab Spring. Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 51-72.
“Regime Resilience and the Arab Uprisings,” in Richard Gillespie and Frederic Volpi (eds.), Handbook of Mediterranean Politics. (with Amnah Ibraheem). Routledge, 2017, pp. 207-217.
REVIEW ARTICLES AND OTHER SCHOLARSHIP
“Surveying Nuclear Attitudes in the Middle East: Perceptions, Misperceptions, and Future Research.” APSA MENA Politics Section Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2019), pp. 27-30.
“Ruptures, Reconfigurations, and Revolutions: Political Change in North Africa after the Arab Uprisings.” Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 22, No. 4 (2017), pp. 522-530.
“International Politics and the Arab Uprisings: Survey of Recent Works.” Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 14, No. 4 (2016), pp. 1231-1233.
Leon T. Goldsmith, Cycle of Fear: Syria’s Alawites in War and Peace, Syrian Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2020) pp. 1-2.
Ostovar Afshon, Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, International Studies Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2020), pp. 169-170.
Ann Marie Wainscott, Bureaucratizing Islam: Morocco and the War on Terror, Politics and Religion, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2019), pp. 782-784.
Laleh Khalili and Jillian Schwedler, Policing and Prisons in the Middle East: Formations of Coercion, Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2015), pp. 380-381.
Lise Storm, Party Politics and the Prospects for Democratization in North Africa, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1 (2015), pp. 169-170.
Lise Storm, Party Politics and the Prospects for Democratization in North Africa, Middle East Journal, Vol. 68, No. 1 (2014) pp. 210-212.
Lelia Piran, Institutional Change in Turkey: The Impact of European Union Reforms on Human Rights and Policing, Turkish Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2014), pp. 156-157.
EDITORSHIP OF SPECIAL ISSUES
“Survey Research on International Relations and Security Affairs in the Middle East and North Africa.” (with Holger Albrecht). Themed section. Mediterranean Politics. Forthcoming.
RESEARCH IN PROGRESS
“Beards, Mustaches, and Power: The Traits of Masculine Leadership in Morocco” (with Freddy Gergis). Under review in an edited volume with Indiana University Press (eds., Ellen Lust and Kristen Kao).
“The Limits of Assimilation: Tolerance for Migrants on the Prayer Mat but less Elsewhere?” In preparation for submission to Politics and Religion (with Kristin Fabbe and Eleni Kyrkopoulou).
“The International Sources of Prejudice toward Jewish Citizens: Original Survey Evidence from Morocco.” In preparation for submission to Political Research Quarterly (with Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl).
“Marxism in the Maghreb: Leftist Parties and Movements in North Africa.” In preparation for submission to Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History (with Matthew Jones).
“Executive, Legislative, and Local Elections in Arab Authoritarian Regimes” (with Calista Boyd). In preparation for submission to Routledge’s Handbook on Elections in the Middle East and North Africa (eds., Francesco Cavatorta and Valeria Resta).
GRANTS (2013 - present)
Grand Total Applied: $993,655 (Successful: $250,490).
“Countering the Deleterious Impacts of Nuclear Energy-related Disinformation: Training sub-Saharan African Nuclear Energy Policymakers in Nigeria.” Y-12 National Security Complex, U.S. Department of Energy with the Department of State’s Partnership for Nuclear Threat Reduction. Under review.
“NA-211 Nuclear Security Research Projects: Russian and Chinese Nuclear Diplomacy in North and sub-Saharan Africa” Y-12 National Security Complex/U.S. Department of Energy (with Brandon Prins and Krista Wiegand). Successful.
“Atomic Alliances: U.S. Nuclear Bases and Democratization in Morocco and Portugal.” Dwight D. Eisenhower Foundation Research Grant. Successful.
“Atomic Alliances: U.S. Nuclear Bases and Democratization in Morocco and Portugal.” Gerald R. Ford Foundation Research Grant. Successful.
“Beards, Mustaches, and Power: The Traits of Male Leadership in the Middle East.” 2020 Grant program from Ellen Lust’s Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD) at University of Gothenburg. Successful.
“University Engagement for Nuclear Nonproliferation Courses at the University of Tennessee for 2019-20.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy. (with Brandon Prins). Successful.
“University Engagement for Nuclear Nonproliferation Courses at the University of Tennessee for 2018-19.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy. (with Brandon Prins). Successful.
“Racism and Refugees: Exploring Xenophobia towards sub-Saharan African Migrants in Morocco.” Harvard University, Middle East Initiative, Faculty Research Grant (with Kyung Joon Han and Kristin Fabbe). Successful.
“University Engagement for Nuclear Nonproliferation Courses at the University of Tennessee for 2017-18.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy. (with Brandon Prins). Successful.
“(Mis)managing Authoritarian Coalitions in Tunisia: Minister Survival from Colonial Independence to Democratic Revolution.” University of Tennessee, Scholarly Research and Incentive Fund (2014). Successful.
“Exploring Citizen Attitudes toward the Weaponization of Peaceful Nuclear Technology in the Middle East and North Africa.” University of Tennessee, Institute for Nuclear Security (2015). Successful.
“University Engagement for Nuclear Nonproliferation Courses at the University of Tennessee for 2020-21.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy. (with Brandon Prins). Unsuccessful.
“International Safeguards, Export Control, and Nonproliferation Course for Fall 2022.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy. Unsuccessful.
“University Engagement for Nuclear Nonproliferation Courses at the University of Tennessee for 2021-22.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy (with Brandon Prins). Unsuccessful.
“Refugees and Racism: An Original Survey on Attitudes of Prejudice toward Arab and Black African Refugees in Morocco.” Georgetown University-Qatar, Center for International and Regional Studies. (with Kyung Joon Han) (2016). Unsuccessful.
“Who Supports Authoritarianism? Individual Insecurity and Democratic Rollback in the Middle East.” National Science Foundation. (with Jason Brownlee, University of Texas and Steven Brooke, University of Louisville) (2015). Unsuccessful.
“Modeling the Behavior and Geography of Violent Non-State Groups using Arabic, Turkish, and Hindi Sources.” Minerva Research Initiative. (with Brandon Prins, Krista Wiegand, and Hyun Kim) (2015 & 2016). Unsuccessful.
“Healthcare for All Gulf Citizens? Geospatial Mapping of Hospital Accessibility in Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States.” Qatar National Research Fund (2013). Unsuccessful.
GRANTS (2006 -2012)
“Mauritania fieldwork for 2012.” Project for Middle East Political Science (2012). Successful.
“Mauritania fieldwork for 2012.” American Institute for Maghrib Studies (2012). Successful.
“Elections Monitor for the 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly Elections.” Jimmy Carter Presidential Center (2011). Successful.
“Morocco & Tunisia fieldwork for 2010-2011.” U.S. Institute of International Education, David Boren Fellowship (2010). Successful.
“Doctoral-level Arabic literature, culture, and politics courses.” University of Texas, Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) (2006). Successful.
“Intensive Arabic in Damascus, Syria for 2006-2007.” U.S. Institute of International Education, David Boren Scholar. Successful.
SKILLS
Modern Standard Arabic, Professional Fluency - reading, writing, speaking
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, advanced-high certificate
French, Advanced - reading, speaking
Portuguese, Intermediate - reading
Fieldwork and Language Training in the Middle East and North Africa:
Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania (Summer 2009; November 2010 - March 2012 for main book fieldwork; shorter trips in 2013 - 2017)
Qatar (August 2013 - July 2014 for post-doctoral fellowship)
Syria (August 2006 - October 2007) (intensive Arabic study)
United Arab Emirates (May 2006 - August 2006; January 2017)
Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Turkey (travel)
Methods Training:
Winter Experimental Social Sciences Institute - New York University - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research - Syracuse University, New York
University of Texas Summer Statistics Institute
Other Professional Training:
Nuclear Nonproliferation and International Safeguards 2020 Summer Course - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy
PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCES (partial)
“Racism and Labor Market Threat Perceptions: Surveying Moroccan Attitudes about sub-Saharan Migrants.” Rethinking Social and Political Dynamics in the Contemporary Mediterranean Region, University of Edinburgh’s Alwaleed Center and The Institute for Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille University, France. (Invited)
“Publishing in Academic Journals: An Editor’s Perspective.” Middle East and Islamic Studies Aotearoa Network, New Zealand’s Middle East Studies Association, New Zealand. (Invited)
“The Maghreb Post-Arab Spring: Domestic and Regional Challenges.” The European Neighborhood Policy Chair keynote lecture, College of Europe in Natolin, Poland. (Invited)
“Who wants a Nuclear Umbrella? An Original Survey Gauging Public Support for Nuclear Guarantees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).” Center for Technology and Strategy, Air War College, U.S. Air Force. (Invited)
“Religious Traits and Leadership: Results from Elite Negotiations in Morocco’s Casablanca Region.” 2020 American Political Science Association Conference.
“Wither Anti-Westernism? Gauging Public Support for Introducing Nuclear Umbrellas into the Middle East.” (with Arjun Banerjee). 2020 Southern Political Science Association Conference.
“Community-level Postmaterialism and Anti-Migrant Attitudes: An Original Survey on Opposition to Sub-Saharan African Migrants in the Middle East.” 2019 Middle East Studies Association Conference.
“Community-level Postmaterialism and Anti-Migrant Attitudes: An Original Survey on Opposition to Sub-Saharan African Migrants in the Middle East.” 2019 American Political Science Association Conference.
“Why Alliances Fail: Islamist and Leftist Coalitions in North Africa.” 2019 Project on Middle East Political Science book talk, George Washington University.
“Why Alliances Fail: Islamist and Leftist Coalitions in North Africa.” 2019 Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa/Middle East and North Africa program, Northwestern University. (Invited)
“Threat Perceptions and Public Support for Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East: Results from an Original Survey Experiment in Morocco.” 2019 Southern Political Science Conference.
“Prejudice from the Pocketbook? Exploring Xenophobia towards Arab and sub-Saharan African Migrants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).” 2018 Middle East Studies Association.
“Prejudice from the Pocketbook? Exploring Xenophobia towards Arab and sub-Saharan African Migrants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).” 2018 American Political Science Association.
“Threat Perceptions and Public Support for Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East: Results from an Original Survey Experiment in Morocco.” 2018 International Studies Association conference.
“Threat Perceptions and Public Support for Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East: Results from an Original Survey Experiment in Morocco.” 2017 American Political Science Association conference.
“Opening the Black-Box of Authoritarian Coalitions: Minister Retention and the Internal Politics of Tunisia’s Autocratic Ruling Elite.” 2016 University of Alabama workshop. (Invited).
“Verdicts, Bribes, Judges: An Original Survey on Citizen Perceptions of Bribe-Paying and Judicial Rulings.” 2016 Middle Eastern Studies Association conference. (Panel organizer).
“manhajiyaat jadiida fi bahth al-ra’y al-‘aam” [New Methodologies in Public Opinion Research]. 2016 King Hassan II University workshop in Morocco. (Invited, Arabic lecture).
“Do You Have “Connections” at the Courthouse? An Original Survey of Perceptions of Wasta and Judicial Decision-Making.” 2016 Southern Political Science Association conference.
“Do You Have “Connections” at the Courthouse? An Original Survey of Citizen Perceptions of Wasta and Judicial Decision-Making in Morocco.” 2015 Alumni Conference, Winter Experiments Institute in the Social Sciences, New York University.
“Do You Have “Connections” at the Courthouse? An Original Survey of Citizen Perceptions of Wasta and Judicial Decision-Making in Morocco.” 2015 Middle Eastern Studies Association conference. (Panel organizer).
“Continuity through Co-optation in North Africa.” 2015 Project on Middle East Political Science.
UNIVERSITY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
At University of Tennessee:
Proxy Member, Graduate Council
Member, Tennessee Initiative for Middle Eastern Studies committee, 2014-2020
Member, Community Advisory Committee for Political Science, 2016
Member, Undergraduate Committee, 2017-2019
Member, Graduate Committee, 2017-2020
Thesis Committee Examiner, University of Oslo, Dept. of Political Science, (Kristian Dahle Kraft)
External Committee Member, University of Alabama, Dept. of Political Science (Michael Bufano)
In Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies:
Elected to Executive Board, Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society
Chair, 2020 book award committee, Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society
Chair, 2020 article award committee, Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society
Chair, 2020 best dissertation committee, APSA Middle East and North Africa section
Assessor, 2020 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies
Member, 2019 program panel committee for APSA Middle East and North Africa section
Discussant, Project on Middle East Political Science, Research Workshop for Junior Scholars (Carolyn Barnett and Yasmina Abouzzohour)
Member, American Institute for Maghrib Studies
Member, Middle Eastern Studies Association
Member, American Political Science Association
Peer-Reviewer for Academic Journals:
Journal of Conflict Resolution
Comparative Politics
Comparative Political Studies
Political Research Quarterly
Journal of North African Studies
Contemporary Social Science
International Security
Electoral Studies
Governance
Foreign Policy Analysis
World Politics
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
International Journal of Middle East Studies
Legislative Studies Quarterly
Journal of Politics
African Studies Review
Critical Research on Religion
International Studies Quarterly
Political Science Quarterly
Politics and Religion
Middle East Law and Governance
Mediterranean Politics
Rationality and Society
Global Studies Quarterly
Globalizations
Centaurus (Journal of European Society for the History of Science)
International Journal of Press/Politics
Brookings Institution Papers
International Journal of Politics/Press
International Journal of Nuclear Security
Peer-Reviewer for Academic Book Series:
Edinburgh University Press
Cambridge University Press
Purdue University Press (Nuclear Nonproliferation and Security Series)
Indiana University Press
Syracuse University Press
American University of Cairo Press
Georgetown University Press
Oxford Encyclopedia of Africa Series
Lynne-Rienner Publishers
Palgrave Press
Routledge Press (Mediterranean Politics Series)
Peer Reviewer for Granting Agencies:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Mentoring of Junior Faculty:
Jumana al-Ahmad, Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic, Washington and Lee University
Mentoring of Doctoral Students:
Amnah Ibraheem, Allison Critcher, Arjun Banerjee, Samantha Okowita, Matt Jones, and Calista Boyd
Courses taught at University of Tennessee:
POLS 410 - Contemporary Middle East Politics, undergraduate
POLS 479 –War and Peace in the Middle East, undergraduate
POLS 410/595 - Nuclear Politics of the Middle East, undergraduate and graduate
POLS 574 - Comparative Government and Politics of the Middle East, graduate
POLS 610 - Special Topics in Comparative Politics: Authoritarianism, graduate
POLS 249 – Introduction to Comparative Politics, undergraduate
Personal:
Boy Scouts of America - Eagle Scout Award, 2001
REFERENCES
Available upon request