01/07/2026 09:00 - 17:10

HALL: Pola - AT14

Contact: Driessen M.

Chair: Appleby S., Driessen M.

Research on religion and global politics has grown significantly over the last decades. In a first wave of research, seminal works like the Fundamentalisms project (1991), The Revenge of God (1991) and Public Religions in the Modern World (1994) observed the "return of religion" to international affairs at the end of the Cold War and conceptualized its disruption of the paradigm of secular modernity. Throughout the early 2000s and 2010s, a second wave of scholarship expanded and problematized these debates, expressing cautious optimism about the contributions of religious ideas and actors to international goals in the post-9/11 policy environment while chronicling the complex dynamics of religious conflict. More recently a third wave of scholarship on religion and global politics has emerged. This new wave has responded to the evolution of the international environment, marked by liberal crisis and inter-state conflict. Attentive to post-colonial legacies and offering a sustained critique of power dynamics and the role of the state, these new studies have focused on the constructive and disruptive dimensions of religion in international politics. They have returned focus to local political dynamics, drawn on diverse religious histories, employed new research methodologies and considered the role of theological debates in their work. They have also aimed to be relevant to policymakers by addressing topics such as interreligious engagement, religious freedom efforts, the religious genealogies of human rights, transnational conservative networks, democratic backsliding, and the role of faith-based organizations in international development. This panel, sponsored by Notre Dame's Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion and the Rome Summer Seminars on Religion and Global Politics, encourages emerging and established scholars to explore these new directions in the study of Religion and Global Politics.