The New Geopolitics of Religion: Sacred Statecraft and World Orders
Tuesday, December 8, 2026
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EST
RSVP Required
Location:
Mortara Center Building Conference Room Map
Religion has returned to the center of world politics—not as the irrational force that realist analysts have long dismissed, but as a deliberate instrument of statecraft deployed by states across every major world region and faith tradition. In this talk, Peter Mandaville will draw on a decade of globally comparative research to map the new geopolitics of religion, including the contest among Muslim-majority states for Islamic authority and influence, Russia’s mobilization of Orthodox Christianity as a civilizational alternative to the liberal international order, China’s counterintuitive embrace of Buddhist diplomacy, and the growing transnational reach of Hindu nationalist networks. His talk will examine the ambitions and the limits of religious soft power—and the point at which it shades into something sharper and more destabilizing—as well as the implications for world order and the analytical frameworks through which we understand it. This event is open to Georgetown University faculty, students, and staff.
This event is part of the research seminar on Ideology, Religion, and World Order, a collaboration between the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Mortara Center for International Studies.
