“Politics of Religious Freedom” is an ambitious project that proposes to study how religious freedom is being transformed through legal and political contestations in the United States, the Middle East, South Asia, and the European Union. Departing from the assumption that there is a single and stable conception of religious liberty, enshrined in international law, the United Nations protocols and national constitutions, this project undertakes a comparative study of the multiple historical trajectories, concepts, and practices now organized under the rubric of religious freedom.

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Bridging Voices is a grants program that brings together transatlantic academics and policymakers to share their expertise on topics related to religion and international affairs in two academic and policy dialogues in the US and UK/Europe over a period of one year.”

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National University of Singapore, Asia Research Institute presents the conference, Religion and the Politics of Development: Priests, Potentates and “Progress,” which will explore the nexus of religion, development, and politics in Asia. Any discussion of politics must pay close attention to the state and discussion at the conference will be informed by recent developments in religion-and-the-state theory. However, politics extends beyond the state and includes activity at communal-levels as well as global flows of ideas, finances, and institutions. We are interested in exploring religion and the politics of development at multiple levels (e.g. -municipal, provincial, national, transnational). August 28-29, 2013.

Learn more about  Religion and the Politics of Development: Priests, Potentates and “Progress.”

The BIR strives to examine issues and places that often remain neglected because of the constraints on the modern US news market. Our model is to use new technology and streamlined production to efficiently yet thoroughly cover stories that otherwise would remain untold.

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The Princeton Luce Project was convened by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) and the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs to explore the intersection of religion and international affairs with a focus on the U.S., Europe, and countries of the Muslim world, stretching from the Middle East to South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa. The Luce initiative focused on three central questions critical to the emerging intersection of comparative politics, foreign policy, and religion:

1.     How does the presence of a large immigrant population (defined both by national origin and by religion) in the countries of Western Europe influence the foreign affairs of those countries vis-a-vis the Muslim world?
2.     What impact does foreign engagement by the US, the EU and international organizations in Muslim countries have on internal relations between religious and ethnic minority groups and their fellow citizens or government officials?
3.     What difference does the form of government in Muslim countries make in their conduct of foreign affairs?  Muslim democracies and Muslim autocracies behave differently in the international sphere, even though they share a religious foundation.

Visit the Princeton Luce Project of the PIIRS and the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs

The initiative, Religion and Violence in Latin America, seeks to illuminate how religion has related to violence in different contexts. Research has three key objectives: 1) to assess the impact of churches and religion on political change in Latin America through the last half century, in both dictatorships and democracy; 2) to examine specifically their role in the defense of human rights and ministry toward victims of violence; and 3) to interpret how religious ideas and practice have been shaped by political context and different forms of violence.

Visit the Religion and Violence in Latin America website.