Diplomats and the Divine: The Challenges and Opportunities of Mixing Religion and Foreign Policy

Professor Mandaville will reflect on his experiences as a senior advisor in the US State Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs (2015-16). He will explain how and why religion has become a topic of interest among policymakers, discuss his work at the State Department — which focused on efforts to combat ISIS and address sectarian conflict in the Middle East — and share his views on how the Trump administration may approach religion in the context of its foreign policy.