Current Research at ISERP
Democracy, Toleration, and Religion
by Alfred Stepan (ISERP)
The Luce Program on Religion and International Affairs presents a vital and timely opportunity to explore new ways to approach the rapidly changing areas of security, democracy, human rights, and diplomacy. This program will create a three year initiative, joining Columbia's international affairs specialists with other Columbia specialists in the worldÂ's major religions and social sciences and outside activists in a series of systematic exchanges.
Five inter-related themes critical to training the next generation of global leaders have been identified. These themes include: 1) new approaches to religion and international affairs; 2) democracy and religion in research and practice; 3) tolerance, conflict, and religious difference: historical and contemporary issues; 4) religion, human rights and public policy; and 5) experiments in track-two diplomacy: international religious conflict and toleration in sacred sites. Under these themes, this initiative will create new courses, student-faculty research initiatives, new student opportunities, including scholarships for students from democratizing Muslim-majority countries, and new research networks.
This project will lay new intellectual foundations for analyzing religion as a neglected variable in international affairs and enhance at Columbia, and in the world, the now unacceptably low legitimacy of the study of religion and world affairs. In addition, this project strives to significantly further faculty capacities and curricular offerings in this vital area and create new links between scholars and practitioners that will improve public policies in the area of religion and international affairs.
See Also
Funded by Henry Luce Foundation »
