Peter E Mulherin is a casual research fellow and doctoral candidate in the Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Australia. His research focuses on the forming of foreign policy in democracies, as well as international relations and Middle Eastern politics. His scholarly publications have appeared in the Middle East Journal, the Australian Journal of International Affairs, Australian Journal of Political Science, and the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, as well as opinion pieces in the ABC’s Religion and Ethics and the Washington Post.