My research examines how state-building campaigns reshape ethnic and religious identity, public opinion, and political behavior. It draws on survey research, ecological inference, multilevel modeling, and computational methods. For the latest job market paper draft or related questions, please reach out by email.
Job Market Paper
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State vs. Faith: State-led Secularization, Political Backlash and Political Islamism among Muslims
Job Market Paper
Wali Reheman
2024
Presented at MPSA 2024 and 2025 Annual Conferences, WPSA 2024 Annual Conference, APSA 2025 Annual Conference
This job market paper examines when state-led secularization reshapes religious identity and produces political backlash among Muslim populations. It argues that efforts to discipline or displace religious authority can transform religious attachment rather than simply weaken it, with downstream consequences for collective action and support for political Islam. The project speaks to debates in religion and politics, state-building, and the unintended political consequences of secular governance.
Work in Progress
2025
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The Rise of Islamophobic Parties in Europe Depresses Muslims’ Support for Democracy
Submitted
Wali Reheman, and Sharan Grewal
2025
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Exploring Institutional Explanations for Ingroup Support for Ethnic Parties
Working Paper
David Lublin, and Wali Reheman
2025
Presented at APSA 2025 Annual Conference
Though political scientists have long explored differing factors that lead to ethnic party success, less focus has been given to explaining variations in levels of support from the target ethnic group. We have developed a new dataset that estimates support among approximately 25 different ethnic groups over the past several decades for corresponding ethnic parties using ecological inference and polls. Through exploration of the impact of electoral systems and other institutions on ingroup support for ethnic parties, we will shed light on the effectiveness of institutions in shaping ethnic party support. In particular, do electoral institutions designed to promote coalition building successfully undermine efforts by ethnic parties to solidify an ethnic base?
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Seeking the American Dream: Immigrants’ Belief in Meritocracy across Generations
Submitted
Wali Reheman, Elizabeth Suhay, and Mark Tenenbaum
2025
Presented at APSA 2023 Annual Conference
Are new immigrants especially likely to have faith in the American Dream—the idea that hard work leads to success? What buoys or erodes this faith across immigrant generations? No prior published research has sought to answer these questions with U.S. representative survey data of immigrant Americans. Drawing on two such surveys, we investigate immigrants’ beliefs regarding economic opportunity and how these beliefs differ within and across immigrant generations. We find that first-generation immigrants are unusual in their commitment to the image of the U.S. as the land of opportunity. In generations that follow, views become more pessimistic. Contrary to conventional wisdom, perspectives on the American Dream in the second generation and thereafter are not correlated with economic success. Rather, younger immigrant generations’ perceptions of economic opportunity are linked to partisanship and, among Black Americans only, racial identity.