Religion & Politics

Commuters walk from the Federal Triangle Metro station after the U.S. government reopened with about 800,000 federal workers returning after a 35-day shutdown in Washington, U.S., January 28, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1B387042D0

Global Governance & Politics

Cry Freedom: Review of Adam Gopnik’s book ‘A Thousand Small Sanities’

Richard V. Reeves

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Visitors take pictures at the courtyard of the Grand Camlica Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, May 3, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RC12A9744300

Turkey

Turkey: An ambivalent religious soft power

Ahmet Erdi Öztürk

Thursday, June 6, 2019

National flags of Russia and the U.S. fly at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov - RC1B182A80F0

U.S. Foreign Policy

The geopolitics of faith: Religious soft power in Russian and US foreign policy

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Pakistani religious students attend a lesson at Darul Uloom Haqqania, an Islamic seminary and alma mater of several Taliban leaders, in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province September 14, 2013. The seminary, founded in 1947, is now one of biggest and most respected Islamic institutions in South Asia. It propagates a hard-line curriculum based on the radical Deobandi strain of Sunni Islam. Picture taken September 14, 2013. To match story PAKISTAN-TALIBAN/ REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (PAKISTAN - Tags: POLITICS EDUCATION RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - GM1E99F1AX201

Pakistan

Saudi Arabia’s hold on Pakistan

May 2019

Reports

Supporters of the anti-Islam movement PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) attend a demonstration in Dresden, Germany, October 21, 2018. REUTERS/David W. Cerny - RC126AC48970

Report

The role of Islam in European populism: How refugee flows and fear of Muslims drive right-wing support

February 2019

Boys read the Koran inside Markaz Al-Madrasa Al-Islamia, an Islamic seminary and orphanage, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Shadipora on the outskirts of Srinagar May 20, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail - RC14F69A05E0

Religion & Politics

Islam as statecraft: How governments use religion in foreign policy

Peter Mandaville and Shadi Hamid

November 2018

Continuity and change in U.S.-Japan economic relations

Religion & Politics

How to Islamize an Islamic Republic: Jamaat-e-Islami in its own words

Asif Luqman Qazi

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Alia Tunisi (L) and Sharon Suval (2nd L), first grade school teachers, talk to their students during reading hour at the Hand in Hand Arab Jewish bilingual school in Jerusalem December 3, 2014. The Hand in Hand school in Jerusalem presents an almost too-perfect scene in a tense and divided city, where Jews and Arabs do daily business but rarely befriend one other. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Religion & Politics

Tribes, identity, and individual freedom in Israel

Natan Sachs and Brian Reeves

March 2017

Supporters of the far right Bayit Yehudi party headed by Naftali Bennett celebrate at the party's headquarters in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv January 22, 2013. Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel's election on Tuesday, claiming victory despite unexpected losses to resurgent centre-left challengers. Netanyahu has traditionally looked to religious, conservative parties for backing and is widely expected to seek out self-made millionaire Bennett, who heads the Jewish Home party and stole much of the limelight during the campaign. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Religion & Politics

Privatizing religion: The transformation of Israel’s Religious-Zionist community

March 2017

Blog Posts

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with a Muslim cleric as he visits the Zitouna mosque in the Medina (old town) of the Tunisian capital Tunis, Tunisia, February 1, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Feferberg/Pool - RC1DF0E93920

Order from Chaos

Islam, made in France? Debating the reform of Muslim organizations and foreign funding for religion

Rim-Sarah Alouane

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his running mate for the 2019 presidential election Islamic cleric Ma'ruf Amin wave after registering for the election at the General Election Commission in Jakarta, Indonesia August 10, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Akbar Nugroho Gumay/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. INDONESIA OUT. - RC16976DBB40

Order from Chaos

Is Islam an increasingly polarizing political cleavage in Indonesia?

Alexander R. Arifianto

Thursday, April 25, 2019

African would-be immigrants (front) pray inside a mosque near the CETI (Short-stay Immigrant Centre) during the fasting month of Ramadan in Spain's North African enclave of Melilla October 10, 2005. Morocco, under pressure to stem illegal immigration to Spain and accused by rights groups of mistreating migrants, began flying detained Africans to Senegal and Mali on Monday, government officials said. 'We have already flown 140 illegal migrants back home in Senegal this morning and we are preparing a flight of 140 others also to Senegal soon from Oujda,' a senior official told Reuters. REUTERS/Andrea Comas - RP2DSFIXLEAB

Order from Chaos

Morocco, commander of the (African) faithful?

Monday, April 8, 2019

View All Blog Posts

Events

Islam as statecraft: How governments use religion in foreign policy

9:30 AM - 11:00 AM EST

Trump-driven polarization reflects divergent views of America’s future

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT

The future of political Islam: Trends and prospects

9:30 AM - 11:00 AM EDT

View All Events

Related Books

Rethinking Political Islam

Rethinking Political Islam

By Shadi Hamid and William McCants

2017

Megachange

By Darrell M. West

2016

The Islamic State

By Charles R. Lister; Foreword by Ahmed Rashid

2015

Multimedia

A view of minarets of Prophet Mohammad's Mosque in the holy city of Medina January 3, 2007. Pilgrims from all over the world gather in the holy city of Mecca each year for the five-day haj, which is a duty for every able-bodied Muslim at least once in a lifetime. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (SAUDI ARABIA) FOR BEST QUALITY IMAGE: ALSO SEE GF2E5440NM001 - GM1DUHYIKUAA

Order from Chaos

Islam as statecraft: How governments use religion in foreign policy

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Indonesian Muslims attend Friday prayers at the Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta July 23, 2010. Indonesia's Muslims learned last week they have been praying in the wrong direction, after the country's highest Islamic authority said its directive on the direction of Mecca actually had people facing Africa. Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia during prayer and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world's most populous Muslim country. It has now said the true direction is north-west. REUTERS/Supri (INDONESIA - Tags: RELIGION ODDLY IMAGES OF THE DAY) - GM1E67N18IZ01

Podcast Episode

How Saudi Arabia and Iran use Islam in foreign policy

Shadi Hamid, Peter Mandaville, and Fred Dews

Friday, January 11, 2019

On September 16-18, 2017, the Brookings Institution, in conjunction with the State of Qatar, will convene the 13th annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum in New York, NY. The theme of this years Forum is Crisis and Cooperation.

Markaz

Experts debate the intersections of Islam, democracy, pluralism, and citizenship in the Middle East

William McCants and Rashid Dar

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

View All Multimedia