Government Outreach

Government Outreach

From 2009 to 2014 the Berkley Center's Government Outreach project developed and delivered content on religion, foreign policy, and development for the U.S. government and for international organizations. The center's effort to provide resources for the professional training of diplomats, aid workers, and other foreign affairs specialists recognizes that U.S. government representatives are increasingly being called upon to build relationships with religious communities worldwide, but that traditional foreign policy and national security training has not focused on such issues. Key curricular resources include case studies, interviews, and film guides. The project was led by Eric Patterson and has received past support from the Henry Luce Foundation and Georgetown's School of Foreign Service.

Key Collaborations

Military Colleges and Academies

Beginning with seminars co-organized with National Defense University's (NDU) Institute for the Study of National Security Ethics and Leadership in 2009, the Berkley Center convened faculty workshops and curricular materials to examine the role of religion in conflict, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. Partners included NDU, the Naval War College, the Naval Postgraduate School, the military academies, and the Air Force Chaplains School.

Civilian Government Agencies

Center faculty have provided briefings and resources at civilian agencies such as the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Military Chaplains

In March 2010 and 2011 the Berkley Center co-hosted workshops for military chaplains on religion, conflict, and peace at the Pentagon. The participants were the senior combatant command chaplains and their assistants from across the U.S. military, including U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Central Command, and U.S. European Command. In 2012 the center assisted in the International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The center also provided speakers and multi-day workshops at the Armed Forces Chaplains Center in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina.

Combatant Commands

Center personnel have provided briefings on area-specific trends on religion and world affairs for U.S. combatant commands such as U.S. Southern Command (Latin America) and U.S. European Command.

Afghanistan Provincial Reconstruction Simulation

As part of its curricular outreach, the project supported the development of a simulation to introduce military professionals to the motivations and dynamics inherent to highly religious actors and societies in insecure contexts, from religious justifications for violence to religious imperatives for education and health care. The game was demonstrated at government educational institutions including West Point, Annapolis, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the U.S. Institute of Peace, and it has been used in the curriculum at Marine Corps University (Quantico) and elsewhere.