Ron E. Hassner is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.  He is co-director of Berkeley's Religion, Politics and Globalization Program.

He is a graduate of Stanford University with degrees in political science and religious studies. His research revolves around symbolic and emotive aspects of international security with particular attention to religious violence, Middle Eastern politics and territorial disputes. His publications have focused on the role of perceptions in entrenching international disputes, the causes and characteristics of conflicts over sacred places, the characteristics of political-religious leadership and political-religious mobilization and the role of national symbols in conflict.

Professor Hassner was a fellow of the MacArthur Consortium on Peace and Security in 2000-3. In 2003-4 he was a post-doctoral scholar at the Olin Institute for International Security, Harvard University.  In 2007-2008 he was a visiting professor at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University.

Select Publications:

On Religion and Conflict:

 

“Religion and International Affairs:  The State of the Art” in Steven Lamy and Patrick James (eds.), Religion, Identity and Global Governance: Ideas, Evidence and Practice (University of Toronto Press, forthcoming).

 

“Terrorism,”  in Mark Juergensmeyer and Wade Clark Roof (eds.), Encyclopedia of Global Religion (New York:  Sage, forthcoming).

 

“The Pessimist’s Guide to Religious Cooperation,” in Leonard Hammer, Yitzchak Reiter and Marshall Breger (eds.), Confrontation and Co-Existence in Holy Places:  Religion, Political and Legal Aspects in the Israeli-Palestinian Context (London:  Routledge, 2010), 145-157.  [download pdf]

 

“Counterinsurgency and the Problem of Sacred Space,” in Sumit Ganguly and C. Christine Fair (eds.) Treading on Sacred Ground (Oxford University Press, 2008), 13-13.

"At the Horns of the Altar:  Counterinsurgency and the Religious Roots of the Sanctuary Practice," Civil Wars, Vol.10, No.1 (March 2008), 22-39.  [download pdf]

“Islamic Just War Theory and the Challenge of Sacred Space in Iraq,” Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 61, No.1 (Fall/Winter 2007) 131-152. [download pdf]

 

“Fighting Insurgency on Sacred Ground,” Washington Quarterly, Vol.29, No.2 (Spring 2006) 149-166. [download pdf]

“Names Without Places:  How Pilgrims and Mapmakers Invent Sacred Places,” in Zsolt Torok (ed.), Sacred Places on Maps (Hungary:  Pannonhalma Press, 2005) 155-176.  [download pdf]

 

 “To Halve and to Hold:  Conflicts over Sacred Space and the Problem of Indivisibility,” Security Studies, Vol. 12, No.4 (Summer 2003) 1-33.  [download pdf]

 

“The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus:  A Modest Proposal,” Theory and Decision, Vol. 54, No.1 (February 2003) 1-32. [download pdf]

 

“Sacred Space and Conflict”, in Cathaerine Cookson (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religious Freedom (New York:  Routledge, 2003) 422-426.

 

“Sacred Space” and “Native American Sacred Grounds”, in Paul A. Djupe and Laura R. Olson (eds.), Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics (New York:  Facts on File, 2003) 301-2, 399-400.

“God for Harry! England and Saint George! The Evolution of the Sacred Flag and the Modern Nation-State,” monograph, special Issue of The Flag Bulletin, No.191, Vol.39, No.1 (January-February 2000). [download pdf]

 

On International Security:

“Time and the Intractability of Territorial Disputes,” correspondence with Stacie Goddard and Jeremy Pressman, International Security, Vol.32, No.3 (Winter 2007-8) 191-201. [download pdf]

 

“The Path to Intractability:  Time and the Entrenchment of Territorial Disputes,” International Security, Vol.31, No.3 (Winter 2006-7) 107-138. [download pdf]

 

“Military Necessity”, in Mark Bevir (ed.), Encyclopedia of Governance, (New York:  Sage, 2006).

On the Political Science Discipline:

“Trial by Fire:  Surviving the Job Talk Q&A,” PS:  Political Science & Politics, Vol.41, No.4 (October 2008), 803-808. [download pdf]

“Sliding into Home Plate:  How to Use Slideware to Improve Your Presentation (While Dodging the Bullets),” PS:  Political Science & Politics, Vol.38, No.2 (July 2005) 393-397. [download pdf]