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Dr Peter Lehr

Senior Lecturer in Terrorism Studies

Phone

+44 (0)1334 46 1946

Email

pl17@st-andrews.ac.uk

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Research areas

I am a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), School of International Relations, University of ���ϳԹ���, which I joined in September 2004, initially as a Research Fellow tasked with exploring the nexus between piracy and maritime terrorism. Prior to that, I taught Political Science of South/Southeast Asia at the South Asia Institute (SAI), University of Heidelberg, where I also received my Magister Artium (September 1996) and my Dr. rer pol in Political Science (PhD, February 2004).

I am a regional expert on the Indo-Pacific, with a special research interest in violent ‘grey area phenomena’ such as terrorism, political violence, and organized crime – in particular, in maritime terrorism and piracy (as sea-borne organized crime); and in religious violence (with a focus on militant Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism). My current research is on militant (Theravāda) Buddhism, Buddhist Nationalism and Buddhist Vigilantism – manifestations of Buddhism that I like to call ‘Enraged Buddhism’ as opposed to the better-known ‘Engaged Buddhism’ in the shape of Buddhist environmentalism or social activism.

My research philosophy follows Max Weber’s ‘Verstehen’, that is seeing and understanding the meaning of an action from the actors’ perspective – not necessarily to sympathize, but to empathize with the actors and their actual beliefs, cultural values and motivations. In the case of organized crime, this led me to interview a wide range of actors (for example, Chinese Triads, Southeast Asian smugglers and pirates); while in the case of militant Buddhism, I frequently embark on participant observation: staying at (Thai) Buddhist temples as a lay follower and travelling with a group of ascetic monks, to watch, ask, and listen. My research output thus often comes in the shape of a ‘thick description’ according to Clifford Geertz that describes the behaviour of the actors in question along with the context in which they are situated. My recent monographs Militant Buddhism on the one hand, and Pirates – A New History on the other, are examples for this approach.

PhD supervision

• Omar��Kharoti
• Kara��Osborne
• Craig��Ross
• Nathan��Southern
• Bastian��Van Der Neut

Selected publications

• Lehr, P., 20 Oct 2023, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 213 p.

  Research output: Book/Report › Book

• Lehr, P., 9 Mar 2023, Routledge handbook of non-violent extremism: groups, perspectives and new debates. Orofino, E. & Allchorn, W. (eds.). Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor and Francis, p. 194-208 15 p.

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Wilson, T. K., Argomaniz, J., Blumenau, B., Lehr, P. & Omeni, A., 14 Sept 2023, UK Parliament. 14 p.

  Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report

• Open access
  Lehr, P., 17 Sept 2021, In: Journal of Historical Sociology. 34, 3, p. 479-490 12 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Lehr, P., 2019, Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, p. 21-38 18 p. (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Lehr, P., 2019, Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, p. 157-168 12 p. (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Lehr, P., 2019, Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, p. 57-63 7 p. (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Lehr, P., 2019, Cham: Springer. 217 p. (Advanced sciences and technologies for security applications)

  Research output: Book/Report › Book

• Lehr, P., 2019, Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, p. 1-215 215 p. (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Lehr, P., 2019, Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, p. 181-189 9 p. (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

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