Dr Tobias Müller

Tobias’ research interests include political and social theory, the politics of climate change, secularism and Islam in Europe, and decolonial and feminist theory. His current project investigates the political visions and strategies of the climate movement, and how these offer new pathways to think about politics. Taking activists seriously as political thinkers, he uses ethnographic methods to understand how new democratic practices and theories emerge at the frontlines of climate justice struggles. Working with climate activists across various sites, including in the Mexico, Kenya, Uganda, the UK and the US, he explores the epistemic, spiritual, intersectional, decolonial and reparationist dimensions of planetary politics.

Key publications: 

• (2025) “Political theories of climate temporality: Emergency time and decolonial time” British Journal of Politics and International Relations, online first.
• (2025) “Sociology amidst climate breakdown: A call for systemic pedagogical transformation”, Sociology (with Peter Gardner), online first.
• (2025) “Gendered extractivism in Uganda: implications for just transitions”, Environmental Research Letters, 20(8): 084048.
• (2024) “Patriarchal ‘Love School’: Entrepreneurial heroic masculinity and neoliberalism in a Pentecostal Church in London", American Behavioral Scientist.
• (2021) “People of faith are allies to stall climate change”, Nature, 592, 9.

Other publications: 

Journal articles

• (2024) Resurgent religion, resurgent patriarchy? Strictly observant religion, gender and the state, American Behavioral Scientist (with Pinar Dokumaci).
• (2023) “Scoping review on climate change and mental health in Germany: direct and indirect effects, vulnerable groups and resilience factors”, Journal of Health Monitoring, 8(S4), 132-161 (with Nadja Gebhardt, Katharina van Bronswijk, Maxie Bunz, Pia Nissen, Christoph Nikendei)
• (2023) “The politics of mapping religion: Locating, counting and categorizing places of worship in European Cities”. Space & Culture, 26(2), 167-179 (with Mar Griera and Julia Martínez-Ariño).
• (2022) “Conscripts of secularism: nationalism, Islam and violence”, Religion, State and Society, 50(5), 513-531.
• (2022) “The emergence of a new human being”, Angelaki 27(5), 174-181 (with Luce Irigaray).
• (2021) “Islam and space in Europe: the politics of race, time and secularism”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44(10), 1673-1689 (with Adela Taleb and Chris Moses)
• (2021) “State, Space, Secularism: Towards a critical study of governing religion”, in Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44(10), 1690-1711.
• (2020) “Secularisation theory and its discontents: Recapturing postcolonial and gendered narratives”, in Social Compass, 62(2), 315-322.
• (2019) “Reconsidering the spatiality of religion and the state: Relationality and the mosque not built”, in Religion, State and Society, 47(4-5), 474-490.
• (2018) “Constructing Cultural Boarders: Depictions of Muslim Refugees in British and German Media”, Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft / Comparative Governance and Politics, 12(1), 263-277.
• (2017) “Engaging ‘Moderates’ Against ‘Extremists’ in German Politics on Islam”, in The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 15(2), 55-65.
• (2016) “Il potere del popolo è laico? Un’analisi critica della religione e del potere del popolo nella teoria democratia liberale” (Is people’s power secular? A critical analysis of religion and people’s power in liberal democratic theory), in Rivista di Politica, 4, 49-64.

Edited special issues and books

• (2027) "Liberation ecology: Towards an emancipatory sociology of climate and ecological breakdown", in The Sociological Review, March 2027 (with Pete Gardner and Vasna Ramasar)
• (2024) “Strictly observant religion, gender and the state in the 21st century”, special issue in American Behavioral Scientist (with Pinar Dokumaci)
• (2022) “Rethinking Islam and Space in Europe: The Politics of Race, Time and Secularism” London: Routledge (with Chris Moses and Adela Taleb)
• (2021) “Rethinking Islam and Space in Europe: Governance, Institutions, Performance”, special issue in Ethnic and Racial Studies, published as issue 44(10) (w. Adela Taleb and Chris Moses)

Review Essay

• (2018) “Destabilizing Religion, Secularism, and the State”, in Political Theory, 46(3), 455-466.

Book chapters

• (2024) “From Climate Coloniality to Pluriversalising Democracy”, in Seeds for Democratic Futures, Frederic Hanusch and Anna Katsman (ed.), Transcript.
• (2024) “Spirituality, Health and Ecology: Co-Liberation, the Climate Movement and the Quest for Planetary Health”, in Handbook of Religion and Health, James Cochrane, Gary Gunderson, Teresa Cutts (ed.), Edward Elgar, 114-132. (with Thandeka Cochrane)
• (2023) “Verflechtungen von Staat, Raum und Säkularismus: die ungebaute Moschee in München” in Dialog- und Kooperationsformen zwischen Staat und Religionsgemeinschaften: Das Beispiel der Islampolitik und der Deutschen Islamkonferenz, Oliver Hidalgo, Schirin Amir-Moazami, Jörg Baudner (ed.), Baden-Baden: Nomos, 89-122.
• (2023) “How to connect the local to the global in intersectional ecopolitics”, Cookbook for Social, Gender and Environmental Justice, Think Tank Pop Up, London.
• (2021) Intersectionality and postcolonial education in the age of the climate crisis (Intersektionalität und postkoloniale Bildung im Zeitalter der Klimakrise), in Bildung in Postkolonialen Kontexten, Johannes Drerup and Phillip Knobloch (ed.), Bielefeld: Transcript, 261-280.
• (2020) “Reconsidering the spatiality of religion and the state: Relationality and the mosque not built”, in Julia Martínez-Ariño (ed), Governing religion in cities: Critical perspectives, London: Routledge, 111-127.
• (2018) “Sicherheitswissen und Extremismus. Definitionsdynamiken in der deutschen Islampolitik” (Security knowledge and extremism. Dynamics of definition in the German politics on Islam), in Schirin Amir-Moazami (ed) Der Inspizierte Muslim. Zur Politisierung der Islamforschung in Europa, Bielefeld: Transcript, 185-214.
• (2017)“Provincializing Political Education: Postkoloniale Politische Theorie”, in Markus Gloe und Tonio Oeftering (ed), Politische Theorie meets Politische Bildung, Wiesbaden: Nomos, 353-374.
• (2017) “Constructing Islam and Secularism in the German Islam Conference”, in Paul Anderson and Julian Hargreaves (ed), Muslims in the UK and Europe III, Cambridge: Centre for Islamic Studies, 49-62.

Op-Eds

• (2022) “Gas and Oil as new vectors of power: What does the new relevance of natural resources mean for the global economy?” Tagesspiegel.
• (2021) “The Activisms of COP26.” The Ecologist, 22 November.
• (2021) “Religious communities can make a difference in winning the fight against climate change” The Conversation, (with Esra Özyürek)