Mujtaba Isani
Biographic Data
| ID | 4378404 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mujtaba Isani |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mujtaba |
| FAMILY NAME | Isani |
| SIGNATURE | ISANI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Münster |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7960-8056 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Evaluating the Abraham Accords: Creating Indicators and Scenarios for Its Future
The Abraham Accords facilitate the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Israel and several regional states. This article proposes a framework for evaluating the progress and sustainability of the resulting relationships, moving beyond assessments that rely primarily on political milestones or aggregate economic data. The framework identifies seven metrics: relationship maturity and reciprocity, ecosystem integration and co-develop…
Securitization, Legitimization, Rhetoric, and Regional Organization in the Mena Region: Learning from the League of Arab States
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains one of the least integrated regions globally and is characterized by persistent fragmentation, a lack of cohesive unity, and the absence of structured regional security mechanisms. Existing scholarship has highlighted how negative perceptions, deep-seated prejudices, and mutual distrust—particularly among influential political elites—have contributed to divergent regional interests and obstru…
The Other Legitimate Game in Town? Understanding Public Support for the Caliphate in the Islamic World
In recent years, essentialist claims about the incompatibility of democracy and Islam have been swept away by public opinion research revealing that democracy is widely supported in the Islamic world. However, while this literature has demonstrated the popularity of democracy over authoritarianism, we argue that it misses a key piece of the puzzle by not examining Muslim public support for an alternative model of government: the Caliphate system.…
Measuring Implicit Political Extremism through Implicit Association Tests
We develop the first implicit association test (IAT) to measure general implicit extremist attitudes in Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. We find that implicit extremist attitudes are positively but weakly correlated with existing explicit measures. This indicates that implicit measures capture different parts of the population, for example, cases in which associations are based on automated cognitive processes instead of conscious tho…
Who is asking? The effect of survey sponsor misperception on political trust: Evidence from the Afrobarometer
Based on previous research on political trust on the one hand and the effects of perceived survey sponsors on political attitudes on the other, this paper sets out to explore the effects of misperceiving the survey sponsor on political trust among citizens. The article explores the significance of the effect of survey sponsor misperception among factors that are traditionally used to explains political trust. Using Afrobarometer data, which inclu…
Conspiracy Theory Beliefs and Political Trust: The Moderating Role of Political Communication
A plentitude of research has analyzed citizens’ belief in conspiracy theories and its individual‐level correlates. Yet, the effects of (political) context factors on the causes and effects of individual belief in conspiracy theories are still neglected. However, such context should be especially relevant when it comes to the impact of one’s belief in conspiracy theories on one’s political preference. In this article, we argue that the communicati…
The role of societal cues in explaining attitudes toward international organizations: The least likely case of authoritarian contexts
How strong are societal cues – understood as the linkage between heuristics present in society and the object of evaluation – compared to elite cues in influencing citizens’ attitudes toward international politics? Our general argument is that societal cues have so far been underestimated in their effectiveness. More specifically, we argue that societal cues may have a direct effect or significantly diminish the effect of elite cues even in autho…
Methodological Problems of Using Arabic-Language Twitter as a Gauge for Arab Attitudes Toward Politics and Society
Public opinion research in the Middle Eastern context has seen a proliferation of data research that aims to track changes in the state of Arab attitudes. Yet, it remains unclear what is being measured and how representative the data is. This article aims to address this question by reviewing the extent to which and how the existing literature has addressed the issues of representativeness of Twitter communities and the validity of opinion measur…
Religion, rationalism and civil war: The case of Algeria
What role does religion play in understanding the outbreak of civil war? The purpose of this study is to offer an alternative understanding which conceptualises religion as discourse, religious identity as sacred narrative, and religious nationalism as a conflict over the power to shape interpretations of political legitimacy. A rationalist explanation for the role of religion in the outbreak of the Algerian civil war provides an empirical motiva…
Muslim Public Opinion Toward the International Order: Support for International and Regional Actors
In the European Union we trust: European Muslim attitudes toward the European Union
Recent research has indicated that Arab Muslims are skeptical of Western institutions such as the European Union. Do European Muslims hold comparable attitudes toward the European Union? In this article we develop a two-step argument based on a transfer of satisfaction logic. We build on both American politics literature on immigrant trust in the host country's national political actors and on European Union literature assuming a transfer of trus…
Crossed my mind, but ruled it out: Political ambition and gender in the Pakistani Lawyers’ Movement 2007–2009
Exploration of gender and political ambition is a crucial endeavor in liberal democracies like the United States and in electoral democracies with unstable political rights and civil liberties. We use a mixed-methods approach to conduct a political ambition survey of participants in the 2007–2009 Pakistani Lawyers’ Movement. We tested eight hypotheses about gender and participation in the movement, whether participants considered running for offi…
The Desire for Sovereignty – An Explanation of EU Attitudes in the Arab World
A growing body of survey research shows that the European Union (EU) has a relatively benign image around the world, except among Arab populations. What informs Arab citizens' sceptical attitudes toward the European Union (EU)? Combining literature on Arab public opinion and perceptions of the EU, we argue that Arab citizens' feelings about the EU are influenced most prominently by their desire for sovereignty. Moreover, traditional utilitarian a…
Foreign Policy Attitudes toward Islamic Actors: An Experimental Approach
This article examines how Western foreign policy opinion reacts to the perceived Islamic character of foreign actors. Studies show that the target actor’s dominant religion is a key ingredient in foreign policy opinion: Western audiences react more hostilely to “Muslim” than “Christian” targets. Yet, actors differ not only in which world religion they belong to but also how that religion is politicized by themselves and by others. We argue that I…
In the European Union we trust: European Muslim attitudes toward the European Union
Recent research has indicated that Arab Muslims are skeptical of Western institutions such as the European Union. Do European Muslims hold comparable attitudes toward the European Union? In this article we develop a two-step argument based on a transfer of satisfaction logic. We build on both American politics literature on immigrant trust in the host country's national political actors and on European Union literature assuming a transfer of trus…
The Desire for Sovereignty – An Explanation of EU Attitudes in the Arab World
A growing body of survey research shows that the European Union (EU) has a relatively benign image around the world, except among Arab populations. What informs Arab citizens' sceptical attitudes toward the European Union (EU)? Combining literature on Arab public opinion and perceptions of the EU, we argue that Arab citizens' feelings about the EU are influenced most prominently by their desire for sovereignty. Moreover, traditional utilitarian a…
Foreign Policy Attitudes toward Islamic Actors: An Experimental Approach
This article examines how Western foreign policy opinion reacts to the perceived Islamic character of foreign actors. Studies show that the target actor’s dominant religion is a key ingredient in foreign policy opinion: Western audiences react more hostilely to “Muslim” than “Christian” targets. Yet, actors differ not only in which world religion they belong to but also how that religion is politicized by themselves and by others. We argue that I…
Crossed my mind, but ruled it out: Political ambition and gender in the Pakistani Lawyers’ Movement 2007–2009
Exploration of gender and political ambition is a crucial endeavor in liberal democracies like the United States and in electoral democracies with unstable political rights and civil liberties. We use a mixed-methods approach to conduct a political ambition survey of participants in the 2007–2009 Pakistani Lawyers’ Movement. We tested eight hypotheses about gender and participation in the movement, whether participants considered running for offi…
Measuring Implicit Political Extremism through Implicit Association Tests
We develop the first implicit association test (IAT) to measure general implicit extremist attitudes in Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. We find that implicit extremist attitudes are positively but weakly correlated with existing explicit measures. This indicates that implicit measures capture different parts of the population, for example, cases in which associations are based on automated cognitive processes instead of conscious tho…
Conspiracy Theory Beliefs and Political Trust: The Moderating Role of Political Communication
A plentitude of research has analyzed citizens’ belief in conspiracy theories and its individual‐level correlates. Yet, the effects of (political) context factors on the causes and effects of individual belief in conspiracy theories are still neglected. However, such context should be especially relevant when it comes to the impact of one’s belief in conspiracy theories on one’s political preference. In this article, we argue that the communicati…
The role of societal cues in explaining attitudes toward international organizations: The least likely case of authoritarian contexts
How strong are societal cues – understood as the linkage between heuristics present in society and the object of evaluation – compared to elite cues in influencing citizens’ attitudes toward international politics? Our general argument is that societal cues have so far been underestimated in their effectiveness. More specifically, we argue that societal cues may have a direct effect or significantly diminish the effect of elite cues even in autho…
Foreign Policy Attitudes toward Islamic Actors: An Experimental Approach
This article examines how Western foreign policy opinion reacts to the perceived Islamic character of foreign actors. Studies show that the target actor’s dominant religion is a key ingredient in foreign policy opinion: Western audiences react more hostilely to “Muslim” than “Christian” targets. Yet, actors differ not only in which world religion they belong to but also how that religion is politicized by themselves and by others. We argue that I…
In the European Union we trust: European Muslim attitudes toward the European Union
Recent research has indicated that Arab Muslims are skeptical of Western institutions such as the European Union. Do European Muslims hold comparable attitudes toward the European Union? In this article we develop a two-step argument based on a transfer of satisfaction logic. We build on both American politics literature on immigrant trust in the host country's national political actors and on European Union literature assuming a transfer of trus…
Crossed my mind, but ruled it out: Political ambition and gender in the Pakistani Lawyers’ Movement 2007–2009
Exploration of gender and political ambition is a crucial endeavor in liberal democracies like the United States and in electoral democracies with unstable political rights and civil liberties. We use a mixed-methods approach to conduct a political ambition survey of participants in the 2007–2009 Pakistani Lawyers’ Movement. We tested eight hypotheses about gender and participation in the movement, whether participants considered running for offi…
The Desire for Sovereignty – An Explanation of EU Attitudes in the Arab World
A growing body of survey research shows that the European Union (EU) has a relatively benign image around the world, except among Arab populations. What informs Arab citizens' sceptical attitudes toward the European Union (EU)? Combining literature on Arab public opinion and perceptions of the EU, we argue that Arab citizens' feelings about the EU are influenced most prominently by their desire for sovereignty. Moreover, traditional utilitarian a…
Muslim Public Opinion Toward the International Order: Support for International and Regional Actors
The role of societal cues in explaining attitudes toward international organizations: The least likely case of authoritarian contexts
How strong are societal cues – understood as the linkage between heuristics present in society and the object of evaluation – compared to elite cues in influencing citizens’ attitudes toward international politics? Our general argument is that societal cues have so far been underestimated in their effectiveness. More specifically, we argue that societal cues may have a direct effect or significantly diminish the effect of elite cues even in autho…
Methodological Problems of Using Arabic-Language Twitter as a Gauge for Arab Attitudes Toward Politics and Society
Public opinion research in the Middle Eastern context has seen a proliferation of data research that aims to track changes in the state of Arab attitudes. Yet, it remains unclear what is being measured and how representative the data is. This article aims to address this question by reviewing the extent to which and how the existing literature has addressed the issues of representativeness of Twitter communities and the validity of opinion measur…
Religion, rationalism and civil war: The case of Algeria
What role does religion play in understanding the outbreak of civil war? The purpose of this study is to offer an alternative understanding which conceptualises religion as discourse, religious identity as sacred narrative, and religious nationalism as a conflict over the power to shape interpretations of political legitimacy. A rationalist explanation for the role of religion in the outbreak of the Algerian civil war provides an empirical motiva…
Conspiracy Theory Beliefs and Political Trust: The Moderating Role of Political Communication
A plentitude of research has analyzed citizens’ belief in conspiracy theories and its individual‐level correlates. Yet, the effects of (political) context factors on the causes and effects of individual belief in conspiracy theories are still neglected. However, such context should be especially relevant when it comes to the impact of one’s belief in conspiracy theories on one’s political preference. In this article, we argue that the communicati…
Who is asking? The effect of survey sponsor misperception on political trust: Evidence from the Afrobarometer
Based on previous research on political trust on the one hand and the effects of perceived survey sponsors on political attitudes on the other, this paper sets out to explore the effects of misperceiving the survey sponsor on political trust among citizens. The article explores the significance of the effect of survey sponsor misperception among factors that are traditionally used to explains political trust. Using Afrobarometer data, which inclu…
The Other Legitimate Game in Town? Understanding Public Support for the Caliphate in the Islamic World
In recent years, essentialist claims about the incompatibility of democracy and Islam have been swept away by public opinion research revealing that democracy is widely supported in the Islamic world. However, while this literature has demonstrated the popularity of democracy over authoritarianism, we argue that it misses a key piece of the puzzle by not examining Muslim public support for an alternative model of government: the Caliphate system.…
Measuring Implicit Political Extremism through Implicit Association Tests
We develop the first implicit association test (IAT) to measure general implicit extremist attitudes in Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. We find that implicit extremist attitudes are positively but weakly correlated with existing explicit measures. This indicates that implicit measures capture different parts of the population, for example, cases in which associations are based on automated cognitive processes instead of conscious tho…
Securitization, Legitimization, Rhetoric, and Regional Organization in the Mena Region: Learning from the League of Arab States
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains one of the least integrated regions globally and is characterized by persistent fragmentation, a lack of cohesive unity, and the absence of structured regional security mechanisms. Existing scholarship has highlighted how negative perceptions, deep-seated prejudices, and mutual distrust—particularly among influential political elites—have contributed to divergent regional interests and obstru…
Evaluating the Abraham Accords: Creating Indicators and Scenarios for Its Future
The Abraham Accords facilitate the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Israel and several regional states. This article proposes a framework for evaluating the progress and sustainability of the resulting relationships, moving beyond assessments that rely primarily on political milestones or aggregate economic data. The framework identifies seven metrics: relationship maturity and reciprocity, ecosystem integration and co-develop…
Political science (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (5 works)