The New Geopolitics of Religion: Sacred Statecraft in a Changing World Order
Peter Mandaville
George Mason University
Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Time: 12 - 1pm
Location: Boisi Center, 24 Quincy Road, Conference Room
Around the world today we see a trend whereby great powers—and those aspiring to that status—integrate religion and religious outreach activities into their foreign policy and external relations. Manifestations of this trend vary widely, from informal efforts to cultivate solidarity with global co-religionists by states whose history and identity are entangled with religion, to more direct deployment of religious institutions and actors in the service of specific foreign policy and national security objectives. This talk will provide a broad overview of this “new geopolitics of faith,” drawing on recent examples from U.S., Chinese, Russian, Turkish, Saudi, and Emirati foreign policy. Through a global comparison of varying motivations, strategies, and practices associated with the deployment of what might be termed “religious soft power,” the presentation will reveal patterns, trends, and outcomes that will enhance our understanding of religion’s role in contemporary geopolitics.
Dr. Peter Mandaville is professor of international affairs and director of the AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, a senior research fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, and nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. His government experience includes serving as a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff (2011-12), Senior Advisor in the Secretary of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs (2015-16), and director of the Center for Faith-Based Partnerships at USAID (2024-25). His other affiliations have included the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Brookings Institution, the RAND Corporation, the Pew Research Center, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is the author or editor of multiple books including The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power: How States Use Religion in Foreign Policy and Wahhabism and the World: Understanding’s Saudi Arabia’s Global Influence on Islam (both Oxford University Press), Islam and Politics (Routledge, 3rd edition 2020), and Reimagining the Umma: Transnational Muslim Politics (2001). He has also contributed to Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and The Atlantic online and testified before the U.S. Congress on political Islam, countering violent extremism, and human rights in Saudi Arabia. He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.