About

Miriam M. Müller-Rensch (Dr.rer.pol./Joint PhD) is Professor of Sociology and international Inequality at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, Germany. She is Director of the RUK, Research Center for Radicalization and Violeng Conflict in Erfurt. She received her doctorate jointly from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and the University of Victoria, Canada, in Political Science and International Relations. With her interdisciplinary dissertation on East German Foreign Policy in Southern Yemen, she especially addressed the role of Marxism-Leninism with regard to “Socialist state- and nation-building” in the Global South during the Cold War. Specialized in the politics of the Middle East, she focuses on religious and political ideologies, radicalization and extremism, statehood, international security, foreign and development policy and international inequality. Her current research project is concerned with the role of religion, violence and identity in the manifestations of the »Islamic State«.and affiliated with the Max-Planck-Institute of Anthropology, Halle, Germany.

Research Interests

Cleavages, Conflict, Conflict Resolution, Development, Extremism, Foreign Policy, Gender, Globalisation, Governance, International Relations, Islam, National Identity, Nationalism, NATO, Political Theory, Political Violence, Security, Social Movements, Terrorism, Developing World Politics, Transitional States, UN, USA, Political Sociology, Constructivism, Identity, Marxism, Post-Modernism, Post-Structuralism, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Qualitative, Social Media, War, Comparative Perspective, Empirical

Current/Upcoming Events

Standing Groups and Research Networks

• Extremism and Democracy
• Political Sociology