Berkley Center

In recognition of religion’s ongoing geopolitical relevance, many foreign ministries become more attentive to religion—establishing new units or envoy positions focused on analyzing religious dynamics and engaging religious groups around the world. The diplomats who are the designated point people on issues of religion and international affairs within their respective ministries often face similar challenges: resource constraints, insufficient training, bureaucratic resistance, and leadership that may make too little—or too much—of religious engagement.

The Transatlantic Policy Network on Religion & Diplomacy was founded by officials from the European External Action Service and the U.S. State Department in 2015. The network has four interrelated aims:

1. Foster transatlantic communication, coordination, and collaboration among officials;
2. Enhance the ability of participants’ foreign ministries or multilateral organizations to analyze religious dynamics and engage religious actors in the pursuit of a broad range of policy objectives;
3. Promote policy-relevant scholarship and deeper engagement between policymakers and non-governmental experts working on issues of religion and international affairs; and
4. Encourage greater public awareness of the complex role of religion in international affairs by sharing with a general audience the insights generated by our distinctive model of real-world, scholar-practitioner collaboration.

In 2018, the TPNRD established a transatlantic Advisory Council, comprised of top experts from the North Atlantic region, which provides advice to the diplomatic network and serves to deepen connections between scholars and practitioners working on religion and international affairs. Members of the TPNRD Academic Advisory Council also serve as editorial advisors to Religion & Diplomacy.

Over the course of the 2022-2023 academic year, the TPNRD will arrange:

• a three-day conference in November in Strasbourg hosted by the French foreign ministry to be followed by public webinars launching the papers commissioned for the Strasbourg event, 
• a spring 2023 conference to be hosted by another participating foreign ministry,
• and periodic public webinars and private meetings on issues related to religion and diplomacy.

Publications commissioned by the TPNRD and recordings from TPNRD webinars will be published on the Berkley Center and Religion & Diplomacy websites.