I grew up in Belgium, where I lived in the town of Stokkem and attended high school at St.Jan Berchmanscollege in Genk. I studied at the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, receiving degrees in Sociology in 1985 and in Cultural Anthropology in 1987. In 1990, I obtained an MA from the University of Hull's Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Upon my return to Belgium, I became an assistant in the Criminology program of the Law Department at K.U.Leuven. In 1992, I came to the United States, and got my PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado in 1996. I have since held positions at Kenyon College and Purdue University, and I am presently working at the University of South Carolina. 

Education

Ph.D. Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1996. 

Dissertation: “Borders of Police Force: Historical Foundations of International Policing Between Germany and the United States.” Revised for publication as Policing World Society (Oxford University Press 2002). See other related publications. 

Thesis on “Processual Symbolic Analysis in the Writings of Victor W. Turner". M.A. dissertation, The University of Hull, England, 1988. See related publication. 

Thesis on “The Anthropology of Space” (in Dutch). 

Thesis on “The Sociological Concept of Anomie” (in Dutch: Anomie als Sociologisch Probleem). See related publication. 

Experience

Associate Professor (since 2005), Assistant Professor (2002-2005), University of South Carolina, Department of Sociology, Columbia, SC, 2002-present. 

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Purdue University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1997-2002.

Visiting Assistant Professor, Kenyon College, Law and Society Program, Gambier, Ohio, 1996-1997. 

NSF Dissertation Grant, Law and Social Sciences Program, 1994-1995. 

Graduate Assistant, Department of Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1992-1996. 

Assistant, Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, Belgium, Department of Criminology, 1989-1992. 

My research interests include counter-terrorism, international policing, abortion policy, sociological theory, comparative-historical sociology, and the sociological profession, amongst others. My most recent work in the area of law and social control primarily follows three lines of inquiry. First, in a new book, entitled Sociology of Law: Visions of a Scholarly Tradition (Cambridge University Press, 2008), I analyze the history and systematics of the sociology of law to make a case for this specilaty field as a unique and valuable field of inquiry. Drawing together both theoretical and empirical themes, this book reviews the field's major accomplishments and reveals the value of the multiple ways in which sociologists study the social structures and processes of law. Also in matters of law, I am interested in the determinants of abortion law and policy in the United States, specifically the constitutional regulation of abortion, its effects of state policies, and selected  determinants of abortion attitudes. 

Second, I analyze the police dimensions of counter-terrorism, especially from a comparative viewpoint. This project has resulted in various articles and is also the focal point of a new book-length study, entitled Policing Terrorism: Crime Control and the Foundations of Global Security, that is under contract. Related to my work on terrorism, I have also edited a book, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: Criminological Perspectives (Elsevier/JAI Press 2004), that brings out the contributions criminologists have to offer in the study of (counter-)terrorism. Relatedly, I have edited a volume, Surveillance and Governance: Crime Control and Beyond (Emerald/JAI Press 2008) on the relevance of surveillance in many areas of society. 

Third, I will soon continue research on the conditions and dynamics of abortion legislation, in the context of the United States as well as from a comparative viewpoint. This research project will build on and extend from my earlier (article-length) study on the evolution of abortion law in the United States, which I theoretically explored through the work of Talcott Parsons and Jürgen Habermas. 
 

I devote most of my scholarly efforts to the sociological analysis of law and social control. I have particularly analyzed historical antecedents of international police cooperation. This work has culminated in a series of articles and a book, Policing World Society, published by Oxford University Press (2002). The study examines the history of international cooperation involving police institutions from the United States and Germany as well as other European countries in the period from the middle of the 19th century until World War II. I develop and apply a neo-Weberian theory of bureaucratization to analyze the conditions of cooperation across national borders.

Most of my work is of a comparative and historical nature. In this connection I have a special interest in international and global developments, especially in relation to my substantive research and teaching interests in the areas of law and social control. I have merged this global concern with my interest in the sociological profession in the form of an edited volume, Sociologists in a Global Age: Biographical Perspectives (Ashgate 2007), in which sixteen leading international sociologists share their personal and professional experiences of becoming practitioners in the field. Providing fascinating insights into the careers of sociologists in a global age, the contributors provide auto-biographical reviews of their respective journeys into the world of sociology. 

Throughout my substantive interests, I devote much attention to give adequate theoretical expression to the social structures and processes my empirical work is devoted to. Among my publications on sociological theory are two edited volumes: Sociological Theory and Criminological Research (Elsevier 2006) and Habermas, Modernity and Law (Sage 1996). Related research projects involve several projects on classical and contemporary theories, including work on Simmel and the sociology of money.

See my Publications page for online copies of my academic writings.

Among the courses that I presently teach at the University of South Carolina are:

Sociology of Law - SOCY 540. Undergraduate course. 

Sociology of Social Control - SOCY 507. Undergraduate course. 

Sociology of Deviant Behavior - SOCY 323. Undergraduate course. 

Contemporary Scholars - SOCY 711. Graduate theory seminar. 

Comparative & Historical Sociology - SOCY 729. Graduate seminar. 

Sociology of Law Seminar - SOCY 791D. Graduate seminar. 

Criminological Sociology - SOCY 791N. Graduate seminar. 

Policing International Terrorism - SCCC 331. Honors course. 

Honors: Sociology of Law - SOCY 540. Honors course.

“9/11 and the War on Terrorism” & “Law Enforcement 9/11: The Policing of Terrorism,” Summer course on human rights, University of Coimbra, Portugal, July 14-15, 2008; Contemporary Sociological Theory (graduate); Criminal Justice (undergraduate course); Criminologie gastlessen (guest lectures, K.U.Leuven, Belgium, 2003); Hamburg Seminar: Critique of Punitive Reason - Kritik der strafenden Vernunft, Universität Hamburg, Germany, June 28-29, 2000, ASTK, with Mathieu Deflem, Louk Hulsman, Juan Felix Marteau, and Sebastian Scheerer; Law and Police in the New Europe; Introduction to Legal Studies; Policing the Global Village; Seminar on Abortion Policy; Introduction to Sociological Ideas; Sociological Methods in Criminology. 

Finalist, Michael J. Mungo Teaching Award for undergraduate teaching, University of South Carolina, 2008, 2007, 2006. 

Two Thumbs Up Award (student nominated), Office of Student Disability Services, University of South Carolina, 2007. 

Co-Director, with Huseyin Durmaz and Georgi Glonti, Advanced Research Workshop on “Understanding and Responding to Terrorism: A Multi-dimensional Approach,” funded by the NATO Programme Security Through Science, Washington, DC, September 8-9, 2006. 

Academic Fellowship, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, program on “Defending Democracy, Defeating Terrorism,” Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, May-June 2004. 

Purdue Study Abroad program, Oxford University, England, course on “Globalization, Law and Police in the New Europe,” July 2001. 

Mentor of the Year Award from the American Society of Criminology, November 2000. 

Purdue-Hamburg Faculty Exchange, Hamburg University, June 2000. 

Invited to the ‘Favorite Professor Dinner,’ Kappa Kappa Gamma, Purdue University, 2000, 1998. 

National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Grant, Law and Social Sciences Division, #SBR-9411478 (with Gary T. Marx, PI), September 1994 - August 1995. 

National Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NFWO, National Fund for Scientific Research), Belgium, Research Grant, Northern Kentucky University, Department of Sociology, July 1992. 

Scholarship from the student exchange program of K.U. Leuven, Belgium, for graduate studies at the University of Hull, England, 1987-1988. 

Awards as student: Student Scholarship Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Boston, March 1995; Co-winner of the Merle Adams Award, graduate student paper on “Abortion and the Boundaries of Legal Change,” Department of Sociology, University of Colorado, 1994; Winner of the graduate student paper competition of the Northeastern Anthropological Association, student paper on “The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Kingdom: A Test of Two Theories of State Formation,” annual meeting, Danbury, CT, March 1993. 

American Sociological Association: 

Sociology of Law section: Chair of the Nominations Committee, 2006-2007; Chair of the Membership Committee, 2004-2005; Newsletter editor of Amici, 2001-2004; Chair of the Student Award Committee, 1999-2000; Chair and member of the Membership Committee, 1996-1998. 

Theory Section: Website editor since 2003, see: www.asatheory.org; Council Member (elected), 2002-2005. 

Comparative and Historical Sociology section: Website editor, 2000-2004; Newsletter Editor, 1998-2000. 

Crime, Law, and Deviance section: Session organizer, annual meeting, 2002; Nominations Committee, 2001-2002; Chair of the Nominations Committee, 2000-2001. 

Law and Society division, Chair (elected) and co-editor of the Pro Bono newsletter, 2002-2004; Vice-Chair (elected), 2000-2002; panel organizer, 2000 thru 2004. 

Crime and Juvenile Delinquency division: student award committee, 2001-2002. 

Theory division: Member of the Student Award Committee, 1998-1999; Chair of the Student Award Committee, 1999-2000. 

Chair of the dissertation award committee, 2008-2009. 

Member of the dissertation award committee, 2007-2008, 1999-2000.

Organizer and chair of two sessions on "Jürgen Habermas’s Contribution to Sociolegal Studies," annual meeting, Philadelphia, May 1992. 

Program Committee, Area Chair for “Terrorism,” 2007 annual meeting. 

Member of the Program Committee, area “Terrorism, Crime, and Justice,” 2006 meeting.

Member of the Membership Committee, 2004-2005. 

Member of the Email Mentoring Program for students, since 1997.

Division of International Criminology: Distinguished Book Award Committee, 2004-2005.

Division of Critical Criminology: Member of the Award Committee, 1996-1998; Organizer and Chair of a panel on "Radical Criminology and Its (Dis)Contents," annual meeting, Phoenix, October 1993. 

International Section: Executive Council member (elected), 1998-2000. 

Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Deputy Editor, 2005-2008. 

Policing & Society, Editorial Board member, since 1998. 

Book manuscript reviews: Oxford University Press; Cambridge University Press; Columbia University Press; Routledge; Polity Press; Blackwell; Ashgate; Springer; Pine Forge Press; Paradigm Publishers; University of Pitsburgh Press; Duke University Press; University of Illinois Press; Sage Publications; Elsevier; Prentice-Hall; Hart Publishing; Peacock Publishers; Roxbury; Dartmouth; Gordon and Breach.

Research proposal reviews: National Science Foundation; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation. 

Manuscript referee: American Sociological Review; American Journal of Sociology; Social Forces; Sociological Forum; Sociological Perspectives; Social Problems; Sociological Quarterly; Teaching Sociology; Sociological Theory; Social Biology; Journal of Political and Military Sociology; The Canadian Journal of Sociology; Current Sociology; Journal of Classical Sociology; Journal of Historical Sociology; Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology; Law and Society Review; Law & Policy; Punishment and Society; Criminology; Justice Quarterly; Journal of Crime and Justice; International Criminal Justice Review; Journal of Criminal Justice Education; Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice; Crime, Law and Social Change; Journal of Criminal Justice; Western Criminology Review; Policing & Society; Police Practice and Research; Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management; Police Studies; The International Scope Review; American Political Science Review; State and Local Government Review; Global Governance; South African Journal of Philosophy; British Journal for the History of Philosophy; International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine; Journal of Common Market Studies. 

Internal service, University of South Carolina, 2002-present: 

Department: Website Coordinator, since 2002; Library Representative, since 2003; United Way Ambassador, since 2006; Faculty Advisor to the Sociology Graduate Student Association, since 2007; Colloquium Committee Chair, 2008-2009; Organizer, Sociology Proseminar, 2004-2008; Sociology Search Committee, USC-Salkehatchie, 2006-2007; Recording Secretary, 2002-2003. 

College: Member of the Student Academic Responsibility Committee in the College of Arts & Sciences, 2004-2007; Founder and co-organizer of the Junior Faculty Seminars in the College of Liberal Arts, 2003-2005; Walker Institute Awards Committee, 2003-2004. 

University: Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee (and Member of the Senate Steering Committee; the Faculty Budget Committee; and the Academic Affairs and Faculty Liaison Committee of the Board of Trustees), 2008-2009; Member of the Faculty Advisory Committee, 2006-2008; Member of the General Education Work Team on Values, Ethics, and Social Responsibility, 2007-2008; Faculty Associate to the Office of Academic Integrity and Member of the Carolina Judicial Council, since 2007; Faculty Advisor of the student interest group Students Defending Democracy, 2004-2006; Faculty Advisor of the women’s rugby team, 2002-2006. 
 

Je Usama bin Ládin nový Che Guevara? - Pravda (Slovakia), August 23, 2008. 

Al–Kajdá si v Iraku vyláme zuby - Pravda (Slovakia), August 22, 2008. 

Interview on border control [audio]  - KSTE radio, San Francisco, CA, August 20, 2008. 

Interpol Finds Its Calling - Time Magazine, March 3, 2008. 

Top Hezbollah Commander Killed in Syria - Online debate, WashingtonPost.com, February 13, 2008.

International Intelligence Sharing for Global Security - Turkish Weekly, December 23, 2007. 

Interview on terrorism - XM Satelite Radio, The Midday Show, September 11, 2007. 

Six Years Later: What Is 9/11? - By Reid Wilson. RealClearPolitics.com, September 11, 2007. 

Attacks In Mind, But Life Goes On - The Spartanburg Herald-Journal, September 9, 2007. 

Explosive Indictment - The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), September 1, 2007. 

Surveillance Nation [audio] - Radio program on security cameras, On Point, NPR, July 12, 2007. 

Experts Say Laos Plot not Practical - The Fresno Bee, June 7, 2007. 

Interview on House passage of anti-terrorism bill - CBS news radio, New York, January 9, 2007.

11. september 2001 - Pravda (Slovakia), September 9, 2006. 

Daily Life Hasn't Changed for Americans Since Sept. 11 - Deutsche Welle, September 3, 2006. Also in Spanish and German. 

¿En dónde está Osama Bin Laden? - Tiempos del Mundo, July 13, 2006. 

On Behalf of Muslims, ACLU Seeks FBI Surveillance Data - The Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2006. 

Muslims Find Giving to Charity now Harder - The Toledo Blade, March 6, 2006. 

A New Spin on Global Security - Federal Computer Week, August 29, 2005. 

De-Metaphoring a Metaphor [audio] - The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC, New York, July 26, 2005.

Subway Users Ride at Their Own Risk - ABCNews.com, July 22, 2005. 

Responding to Terror [audio] - The Connection, NPR radio, July 22, 2005. 

Experts: Bombers Estranged from London Community - The Toledo Blade, July 17, 2005

Better Intelligence Needed to Fight Terror Attacks. Op-ed. The State, July 13, 2005. 

Debate on terrorism - WLXC-FM radio, Columbia, SC, July 10, 2005.

Interview on police cooperation and terrorism - WBT radio, Charlotte, NC, July 10, 2005.

News segment on terrorism [ video] - WOLO-ABC25, Columbia, SC, July 7, 2005. 

Policing Terrorism - Online discussion, WashingtonPost.com, July 7, 2005.

Interviews on the London terrorist bombings: WLS radio, Chicago; ABC News; The National Journal; The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC; CKNW radio, Vancouver, Canada; WBT radio, Charlotte; WGCV radio, Cayce, SC, July 7-8, 2005. 

FBI Inquiry Leads to Fraud Case - The Oregonian, May 12, 2005.

Radio interview on aviation security - WPRO, Providence, Rhode Island, March 16, 2005.

Policing the New Europe: United but Divided; Severing the Hydra’s Head - Defence Security & Control, September 2004. 

Anti-Terror Legislation Passed After 9/11 [audio] - Radio interview, The Carolina Minute, South Carolina Educational Radio Network, August 10, 2004. 

Is Saying 'War on Terror' Hampering Counterterrorism? [audio] - Interviewed for a radio feature, NPR, Day to Day, August 6, 2004. 

Radio interview on U.S. terrorism policies - KMED, Medford, Oregon, August 3, 2004.

Sociology’s Mathieu Deflem is Authority on World Terrorism - Interviewed for a feature in the USC Times, June 17, 2004. [pdf copy]

War on Terrorism Strains Agencies [audio] - Radio feature, The Carolina Minute, South Carolina Educational Radio Network, June 14, 2004. 

Scots-US Flights Hit - Interview quoted in an article about cancelled transatlantic flights, Daily Record (Scotland), February 2, 2004. 

Interview on the US-VISIT program - South Carolina Radio News Network, January 9, 2004. 

'Strange' Incidents in S.C. Serve as Reminders of Domestic Threats (posted at The Augusta Chronicle) - Interview on domestic terrorism by the Associated Press, December 12, 2003. 

Terrorism Task Forces Join Efforts [audio] - Radio interview, The Carolina Minute, South Carolina Educational Radio Network, November 12, 2003. 

Global Policing and Terrorism, Part 1 & Part 2 [audio] - Participant in a radio talk show, The Andy Thomas Show, Columbia, South Carolina, September 10, 2003. 

Investigation Finds Security Holes at SC DMV [video] - Interview on fraudulent driver’s licenses, News Channel 7, Spartanburg, South Carolina, September 9, 2003. [document file] 

Worldwide police efforts battle terrorism [audio] - Interview for The Carolina Minute on South Carolina Educational Radio Network, Tuesday, September 9, 2003. 

Ulster Haunted by Lingering Scars of Omagh Horror - Interview on the Real IRA quoted in the South China Morning Post, August 15, 2003. 

Interview with BBC-Uzbek for a radio broadcast on the impact of suicide bombers, May 19, 2003. 

The Fight Against Terror at the UN [ video] - Participant in a televised debate on the CNN International broadcast “Your World Today,” May 8, 2003. 

Other Interviews

Radio interview on Alfred Hitchcock - Radio City (Ecuador), August 13, 2007. 

Art Project Adds to List of ‘Isms' - The New York Sun, January 16, 2007. 

On Mexican-Canadian police cooperation - Global TV Network, Ontario, Canada, February 27, 2006.

TV interview on internet communications - Carolina News, Columbia, SC, October 25, 2005. 

Cheating Goes High-Tech with Use of Cell Phones, Internet - The Greenville News, May 2, 2005.

Detecting a Flaw - The Free Times, April 6-12, 2005.

Someone to Watch Over Me - Queen’s Alumni Review, Fall 2004.

Web Site Defends Sociology - The Gamecock, November 17, 2004.

"Save Sociology" Web site preserves integrity of field as a discipline - USC Times, November 2004. 

Latte Shouldn’t Cost Someone Life or Limb. Letter. The State, February 17, 2004, p. A8. 

God and Satan in Bentonville (see www.knoxandbaum.com) - Interview quoted in an article on Walmart by Dan Baum, Playboy magazine, November 2003. 

The Great Debate - Interview on drug legalization quoted in the Garnet and Black magazine, November 2002. 

Police collaborate on fighting crime [audio] - Interview with USC Media Relations for the radio broadcast The Carolina Minute, November 15, 2002.

Dangerous behavior linked to firearms - Interview on guns in college quoted in the Gamecock newspaper, October 2002. 

Pedestrians Risk Their Lives at Crosswalks. Letter. The State, July 14, 2002, p.D2. 

Radio interview on the death penalty, local show in West Lafayette, Indiana, June 2001.

Police Use Web Site Inappropriately. Letter. The Purdue Exponent, April 9, 2001, p.6. See also: Letter to the Editor. Journal and Courier, April 8, 2001.

Web site adds photos to identify revelers - Interview quoted in The Purdue Exponent, April 9, 2001. [pdf backup] 

Interview with the Indianapolis Star on threatening emails, January 2001.

Campus sees rise in reported crime - Interview quoted in The Purdue Exponent, September 12, 2000. 

Interview on study guides quoted in The Akron Beacon Journal, July 6, 2000.

History of the Civil War in 560 Words, Laminated - The Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2000. 

Article Misstates Facts of Abortion. Letter. The Purdue Exponent, April 27, 2000.

Can Textbook E-Tailers Topple Bookselling's Ivory Tower? - Interview quoted in Publishing Trends, March 2000. 

Letters and op-eds accompany my website campaign "Free Education Now!", 1999-2000. See also features and interviews on the campaign that appeared in several media, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, Denver Post, The Village Voice, USA Today, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Christian Science Monitor. 

Sacred Cows of Arms, Prisons Are Milking the U.S. Budget - Quoted in an op-ed, Chicago Sun-Times, December 25, 1995.

Author-meets-critics session on Crime Without Borders: An Introduction to International Criminal Justice, by Aaron Fichtelberg, ASC annual meeting, St. Louis, MI, November 2008. 

“Civil Liberties and Surveillance in the Post-9/11 World: The Fear of Counter-Terrorism.” (with Shannon McDonough). Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) annual meeting, Boston, August 2008. 

“9/11 and the War on Terrorism,” and “Law Enforcement 9/11: The Policing of Terrorism.” Lectures as part of a Summer course on human rights, University of Coimbra, Portugal, July 14-15, 2008. 

“Bureaucratization, Politicization, and the Policing of Terrorism: Undercover Counter-Terrorism in Israel.” Centre international de criminologie comparée, Université de Montréal, Canada, April 24, 2008. 

"Police and Counter-Terrorism: A Sociological Theory of International Cooperation.” Workshop on security cooperation, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, December 6-8, 2007. 

“The Concept of Social Control: Theories and Applications.” International Conference on “Charities as Instruments of Social Control in Nineteenth-Century Britain,” Université de Haute Bretagne (Rennes 2), organized by the British Civilization research group within the Research Centre "Aglophonie: Communautés, Ecritures," Rennes, France, November 22-23, 2007.