The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power explores the global impact of religious propagation activities sponsored by several countries in the Middle East—including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Qatar, and Morocco—which for decades have deployed religion as a form of soft power in pursuit of foreign policy objectives. In nearly every Muslim-majority country that aspires to regional or global influence, Islam is an important and sometimes the only ideological currency that mixes effectively with more narrowly defined realpolitik. With the decline of pan-Arabism and socialism, the only real competing ideological orientation other than liberal democracy is nationalism, but, by definition, nationalism is difficult to “promote” outside one’s own nation. Undertaken in partnership with Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs and with the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the project will explore how, why, and when states use religious soft power. This initiative, led by Peter Mandaville and Shadi Hamid, will also consider the experience of countries on the receiving end of such influences. Does foreign support and funding alter religious culture and norms around pluralism and inclusivity in significant ways, or is all politics—and all religion—fundamentally local?
Report
Commentary
Denys Brylov, Tetiana Kalenychenko, Peter Mandaville
January 12, 2023
Mackenzie R. Poust
September 15, 2022
Harun Karčić
July 25, 2022
Peter Mandaville
May 24, 2022
Khalil al-Anani
April 5, 2022
David H. Warren
July 12, 2021
Ger FitzGerald
June 8, 2021
Jon Hoffman
May 17, 2021
Peter Mandaville
December 14, 2020
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
August 31, 2020
Rositsa Atanasova
June 29, 2020
Prashant Waikar, Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman
February 24, 2020
Peter Mandaville
January 13, 2020
Egdūnas Račius
October 18, 2019
Annelle R. Sheline
July 11, 2019
Peter Henne
June 6, 2019
Ahmet Erdi Öztürk
June 6, 2019
Rim-Sarah Alouane
May 1, 2019
David B. Roberts
April 8, 2019
Sarah Alaoui
April 8, 2019
Vish Sakthivel
April 4, 2019
Michael Farquhar, Alex Thurston
December 13, 2018
Alix Philippon
December 13, 2018
Ansgar Jödicke
December 13, 2018
Policy Briefs
Robert C. Blitt
May 13, 2021
Yoshiko Ashiwa, David Wank
November 11, 2020
Edward Wastnidge
September 18, 2020
Ahmet Erdi Öztürk
August 26, 2020
Sumit Ganguly
July 14, 2020
Working Papers
Gregorio Bettiza
March 30, 2020
Aurélie Biard
January 28, 2019
Articles
Peter Mandaville, Shadi Hamid
December 7, 2018