Description

What issues and challenges in religion and international affairs are likely to confront U.S. policy makers in the coming years? How have those issues and challenges evolved, and how can the body of research and public engagement supported by the HRLI be leveraged to map this new terrain? George Mason University (GMU) proposes to organize a series of discussions and activities to address these questions.
Under the leadership of Peter Mandaville, professor of government and politics at the Schar School of Policy and Government, the project will organize three workshops, focused on these themes: the domestic/international interface of religion and public life; the new global landscape of religion and politics; and the future of religious engagement in U.S. foreign policy.
The Biden administration, Mandaville contends, faces challenges as well as opportunities. The first workshop will explore the impact of the Trump administration’s approach to international religious freedom, the extent to which aspects of U.S. domestic politics around religion have inflected American foreign policy, and the growing cooperation between conservative civil society networks connecting countries such as the United States, Brazil, Russia, India, and Poland. The second workshop examines the increased prominence of religion in political dynamics in many countries and regions, the relevance of religion to strategic priorities such as climate change or pandemic resilience, and how religion fits into discussions about the changing nature of the global order. The final workshop asks what has been learned from uneven attempts over the past twenty years to pay attention to religion and to engage with religious actors to pursue diplomatic objectives.
Each two-day workshop will bring together 15-20 leading experts, scholars, practitioners, and former policymakers, including past and present HRLI grantees. The first will be convened in partnership with Harvard Divinity School’s program on Religion and Public Life; the second with the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion at Notre Dame University; and the third will take place at GMU. Each closed convening will also feature a public panel to reach a broader audience.
The project will produce commentaries, policy briefs, podcasts and video interviews, and a final report aimed primarily at policymakers. The report will be co-published by a Washington, DC think tank such as the Brookings Institution, which will also host a launch event for policymakers. Participants will offer private briefings to relevant policy communities (including Department of State, Agency for International Development, National Security Council, and Congressional staff). Mandaville, a leading scholar in this field, has directed a number of HRLI supported projects and is co-founder of the Transnational Policy Network on Religion & Diplomacy.
Recommendation: That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a one-year grant of $150,000 to George Mason University for a project on new approaches to engaging religion in U.S. foreign policy.