Vol. 6, No. 3 (Fall 2008)
"Faith & Foreign Policy: Recommendations for the Next President"—This issue examines the intersection of religion and foreign policy through issue-based and regionally focused nonpartisan recommendations.
From the Editor: Toward a National Dialogue on Religion and Foreign Policy
Dennis Hoover Monday, 1 September 2008
The influence of faith on foreign policy is often overlooked in religion-related discussion. The Fall 2008 Review presents essays in the form of nonpartisan briefings to the incoming administration. [FREE]
Read more: From the Editor: Toward a National Dialogue on Religion and Foreign Policy
Religion and Security in the Post-Modern World
Steven Meyer Monday, 1 September 2008
The emerging world is complex, multi-dimensional, and multi-institutional, and a new security paradigm must include non-state actors, including individuals and religious organizations.
Reconciliation and Iraq: Faith-Based Advice for the Next President
Daniel Philpott Monday, 1 September 2008
We need a jus post bellum, an ethic for building peace in Iraq. This ethic—reconciliation—is a holistic project of six interlocking practices to restore persons, relationships, and political orders.
Read more: Reconciliation and Iraq: Faith-Based Advice for the Next President
Election 2008: Day-After Policies for International Religious Freedom
Elizabeth Prodromou Monday, 1 September 2008
The next administration should adjust religious freedom policies, with one clear goal in mind: to measurably enhance U.S. national security in a manner that also demonstrably enhances global peace.
Read more: Election 2008: Day-After Policies for International Religious Freedom
Faith and U.S. Foreign Assistance Policy
J. Brady Anderson Monday, 1 September 2008
As the next president includes faith-based groups in foreign aid's soft power, these organizations must understand the current climate of competing funding motivations and clashing political agendas.
The Politics of Religion and Immigration
Ruth Melkonian-Hoover Monday, 1 September 2008
The next president needs to implement immigration reform. Data provide a nuanced picture of religious perspectives, but the balance of religious opinion decidedly supports immigrant-friendly measures.
Creation Care: Religion and Environmental Action
Dorothy Boorse Monday, 1 September 2008
Motivated by an ethic of creation care, religious environmentalists often gravitate toward issues that directly impact human populations, and responses to specific policy areas have been mixed.
The Bully Pulpit: Religion in Presidential Rhetoric
Timothy Sherratt Monday, 1 September 2008
The inescapably religious character of public discourse means the next president may employ religious rhetoric, and should do so carefully, stressing human dignity over individual freedom.
Read more: The Bully Pulpit: Religion in Presidential Rhetoric
Global Religious Trends: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy
Todd Johnson Monday, 1 September 2008
The percentage of religionists worldwide continues to rise despite predictions of secularization. Demographic shifts and diversity yield opportunities for diplomacy and effective foreign policy.
Read more: Global Religious Trends: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy
Balancing Faith-Based Strategies in U.S.-Africa Policy
R. Drew Smith Monday, 1 September 2008
The PEPFAR program demonstrates the benefits and guidelines for government partnerships with faith-based organizations, and these partnerships should be expanded in other initiatives in Africa.
Read more: Balancing Faith-Based Strategies in U.S.-Africa Policy
Seizing the Middle East Moment
Chris Seiple Monday, 1 September 2008
The next president will need to implement a comprehensive Middle East policy that actively addresses religion's role, and sensitively present it to the region's Muslim-majority societies. [FREE]
A Strategy for Hearts and Minds in South and Central Asia
Peter Nasuti, Philip Reiner, Joshua White Monday, 1 September 2008
For effective strategy in South and Central Asia, the U.S. will have to integrate its policies on religious freedom, public diplomacy, and counterinsurgency—and take religious factors into account.
Read more: A Strategy for Hearts and Minds in South and Central Asia
New Cold War, New NATO, and New States in a Desecularizing Eastern Europe
Christopher Marsh Monday, 1 September 2008
Deteriorating Russian relations should prompt the U.S. to pursue a policy of constructive engagement by understanding the complexity of ethnicity, desecularization, and power politics in the region.
Read more: New Cold War, New NATO, and New States in a Desecularizing Eastern Europe
Engaging Communist East Asia: Recommendations for Religious Freedom
Jared Daugherty, Hien Vu Monday, 1 September 2008
U.S. policymakers should understand historical and political factors in Communist East Asia and recognize these countries' aspirations as they develop religious freedom goals and methods.
Read more: Engaging Communist East Asia: Recommendations for Religious Freedom
Gerson's Conservatism: Heroic or Heretical?
Judd Birdsall Monday, 1 September 2008
A review of Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need to Embrace American Ideals (And Why They Deserve to Fail if They Don't), by Michael Gerson.
Are the Democrats Getting Religion?
Stacey Pistritto Monday, 1 September 2008
A revew of The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap, by Amy Sullivan; Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right, by E.J. Dionne, Jr.; and The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America, by Jim Wallis.