Professor
Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture University of Virginia
Contributing Editor, American Purpose; Senior Editor, Society
McGuinn Hall Room 228
Telephone: 617-552-3112
Email: peter.skerry@bc.edu
Immigration/refugee policy and politics
Racial, ethnic, and religious pluralism in the U.S.
Islam in American society and politics
Societal change and political institutions
Racial and Ethnic Politics; Immigration Policy
Peter Skerry is professor of political science at BostonCollege and a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at theUniversity of Virginia. He is also a contributing editor at American Purpose and a member of the editorialboard of Society. He waspreviously professor of political science at Claremont McKenna College, andtaught political science at UCLA, where he was Director of Washington Programsat the Center for American Politics and Public Policy. He is currently on the Research and ProgramsCommittee of the Board of Directors of the Pioneer Institute in Boston. He previously served on the board of theUnited Neighborhood Organization (UNO), a Chicago-based Latino communityorganization and charter school operator.
He was also Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and aResearch Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He served as co-convenor of the Brookings-Duke Immigration Policy Roundtable, and as co-director of theDialogue on Islam in America at the American Enterprise Institute. He was a member of the Malta Forum, adialogue between Western and Muslim public intellectuals convened by theInstitute for American Values. He servedon the Advisory Council on European/Transatlantic Issues at the Heinrich Böll Foundationof the Bündis 90/Die Grünen (the German Green Party). He has been awarded residential fellowshipsat the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the American Academyin Berlin, and the Russell Sage Foundation.
Professor Skerry has published ina variety of scholarly and general interest publications, including Society, Publius, Journal of PolicyHistory, The Forum, The New Republic, Slate, The Public Interest, The WilsonQuarterly, National Review, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, National Affairs, the ±Standard, First Things, Foreign Affairs, The American Interest, and American Purpose.
He is author of Countingon the Census: Race, Group Identity, and the Evasion of Politics (Brookings) and MexicanAmericans: The Ambivalent Minority (Free Press/Harvard University Press),which was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He is currently completing a study of Muslimsin the United States, From theBrotherhood to the Neighborhood: Muslims in American Society and Politics.
2024
"Insane Asylum: On immigration disaster," National Review (June 2024)
"The Little Lady with the Snake Tongs," American Purpose (January 2024)
2023
"Are Muslims at Home in America?" National Review (September 2023)
2022
"Exploiting Migrants: A Game Anyone Can Play," American Purpose (October 2022)
2021
"What We Can Learn from Our Relatively Open Borders," Cato Unbound (July 2021)
"Why ‘Black Lives Matter’ Matters,” National Affairs (Spring 2021)
“Puritans' Progress: Lawrence Mead and the Question of American Culture,” The Hedgehog Review (Spring 2021)
2020
Regaining Control, The American Interest, July, 2020
, Georgetown University, Berkley Center, January 23, 2020
2019
"Lost in the Fog - Immigrants & Refugees, Bureaucrats, Activists" The Forum (November 2019)
"Nathan Glazer - Merit Before Meritocracy"The American Interest, November, 2019
Populism-The American Interest, September 3, 2019
Populism- The American Interest, September 4, 2019
"Will the Real Populists Please Stand Up or Perhaps Sit Down and Chill",The American Interest, September, 2019
The Dead End of "More Democracy", The American Interest, September, 2019
"Nathan Glazer- Merit Before Meritocracy," The American Interest (April 2019)
“Becoming White,”review of Whiteshift, by Eric Kaufmann.Claremont Review of Books, Fall.
A conversation with Antje Hermenau,The American Interest,March, 2019
Dancing Around the Caravan,The American Interest, January, 2019
Explaining the Indefensible, The American Interest, July, 2018
2017
Comprehensive Immigration Confusion
American Brotherhood:The Muslim Brothers Are Present in the United States, But Not a Threat
Opposing immigration wasn’t always racist
Mexican Americans: New guys on the block
2016
Christmas with the Brotherhood
2015
Sex and the Middle East
?
Clash of Generations
The cultural contradictions of Islam in America
"Imagine No Religion" (review of Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. HarperCollins), Claremont Review of Books, Summer 2015.
"" (review of ImmigrationOutside the Law by Hiroshi Motomura (Oxford: 2014)),The American Interest, March 12.
2014
"" The Weekly Standard, December 15.
"Immigration Malprctice," , August 18, 2014.
2013
“.”Orange County Register, October 10.
“.”The Weekly Standard, August 12.
“.”The Weekly Standard18, June 24.
“.”The Weekly Standard, May 6.
“,” review ofImmigration Wars:Forging An American Solution, by Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick.The Weekly Standard, April 15.
“.” Progressive Policy Institute Policy Brief, March 1.
“.”The Weekly Standard, February, 25.
“Splitting the Difference on Illegal Immigration.”National Affairs14 (Winter): 3-26.
2012
“.”Society49, no. 1: 61-8.
Reprinted inMuslims in America. Dubai: Al Mesbar Studies and Research Center, 2011.
2011
“,”National Affairs9 (Fall): 14-37.
“.”World Affairs, July/August.
“,” with Gary J. Schmitt.Christian Science Monitor, March 10.
“,” with Gary J. Schmitt.Boston Globe, January 29.
2010
“.”Ijtihad-Reason(online publication of the Center for Global Engagement at the Institute for American Values).
“Hispanic Politics (1976-2009).” InEncyclopedia of U.S. Political History, Vol. 7, edited by Richard Valelly. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
“,” review ofFrom Immigrants to Americans, by Jacob Vigdor.Claremont Review of Books, Fall.
“.”Boston Globe, August 19.
“.”Boston Globe, August 3.
“.”Boston Globe, May 18.
“Know Thy Neighbor,” review ofMuslims in America:A Short History, by Edward E. Curtis.Wilson Quarterly, Winter.
2009
“Breaking the Immigration Stalemate: From Deep Disagreements to Constructive Proposals,” with William Galston and Noah Pickus. Brookings-Duke Immigration Policy Roundtable.
“The Real Immigration Crisis.” InAmerica at Risk:Threats to Liberal Self-Government in an Age of Uncertainty, edited by Robert Faulkner and Susan Shell, 174-92. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
“Why ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ Is Not Comprehensive.”The Forum7, no.3.
“.”The American Interest, March/April.
2008
“Day Laborers and Dock Workers: Casual Labor Markets and Immigration Policy.”Society45, no. 1: 46-52.
“,” review ofThe New Case Against Immigration, by Mark Krikorian.The Weekly Standard, September 15.
2007
“Good Neighbors and Good Citizens: Beyond the Legal-Illegal Immigration Debate,” with Noah Pickus. InDebating Immigration, edited by Carol M. Swain, 95-113; 283-91. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
“.”The American Interest, May/June.
2006
“Immigration and Social Disorder.” InUniting America: Restoring the Vital Center to American Democracy, edited by Norton Garfinkle and Daniel Yankelovich, 124-38. New Haven: Yale University Press.
“.”Time.com, November 11.
“.”Time, August 14.
“How Not to Build a Fence.”Foreign Policy, August 8.
“The Mother of Invention.”Wilson Quarterly, Summer.
“Line in the Sand,” with James Q. Wilson.Wall Street Journal, May 18.
“,” with Devin Fernandes.The New Republic,
May 8.
2005
“America’s Other Muslims.”Wilson Quarterly, Autumn.
“Choice, Conflict, and the Zero-Sum Game of Identity Politics.”Yale Law and Policy Review23, no. 1: 65-74.
“Political institutions and minority mobility in the USA.” InEthnicity, Social Mobility and Public Policy, edited by G.C. Loury, T. Modood, and S.M. Teles, 475-92. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
“Racial Politics in the Administrative State.”Society42, no. 2: 36-45.
What Are We To Make of Samuel Huntington?"Society43, no.1: 82-91.
2004
“‘This Was Our Riot Too’: The Political Assimilation of Today’s Immigrants.” InReinventing the Melting Pot:The New Immigrants and What It Means to Be American, edited by Tamar Jacoby, 221-34. New York: Basic Books.
“," with Devin Fernandes.Boston Globe, November 26.
“.”NewRepublic.com, January 13.
2003
“.”The Responsive Community14, no.1: 25-37.
“Political Islam in the United States and Europe.” InPolitical Islam:Challenges for U.S. Policy, edited by Dick Clark. Aspen Institute: Second Conference, June 27-July 3.
2002
“Comments on ‘Coverage of the Population in Census 2000: Results from Demographic Analysis’ and ‘Demographic Comparison between Self-Response and Personal Visit Interview in Census 2000.’”Population Research and Policy Review21, nos. 1-2 (Special Issue: Census 2000): 53-4.
.” InThe New Race Question: How the Census Counts Multiracial Individuals, edited by Joel Perlmann and Mary C. Waters, 327-39. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
“?"Brookings Review, Winter.
2001
“Counting on the Census?” Society 39, no. 1: 3-10.
“The New Politics of the Census.” In Durability and Change: Politics and Policymaking in the 1990s, edited by Marc Landy, Martin Levin and Martin Shapiro, 292-310. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
“What’s Wrong With Group Politics?” Nexus 6: 189-96.
2000
Counting on the Census? Race, Group Identity, and the Evasion of Politics. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
“Elites Immigrées Américaines et Politiques Raciales.” InLes Etats-Unis et les Elites Latino-Américaines, edited by Isabelle Vagnoux, 212ff. Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l’Université de Provence.
“Mexican Immigration is Different.”American Enterprise, December.
“.”Philanthropy, September/October.
1999
“The Racialization of Immigration Policy.” InTaking Stock:American Government in the Twentieth Century, edited by Morton Keller and R. Shep Melnick, 81-122. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1998
“Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate?” InWhat, Then, Is the American, This New Man?Compiled by E. Sandman. Washington, D.C.: Center for Immigration Studies.
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