11th AGS Graduate Student Conference: The Complexity of Religion in International Relations

On April 21-22 the American Graduate School in Paris is holding its 11th annual graduate student conference on the theme “The Complexity of Religion in International Politics: Theoretical, Legal, and Geopolitical Perspectives.” Taking place in Paris, the conference will gather academics, graduate students, and professionals from ten countries to discuss the growing importance of religion in world politics.

Dr. Ruchi Anand, the professor who initiated the Annual Graduate Student Conference at AGS, explains that the goal of the conference this year is “to contest and eventually unseat naïve notions that the world is today a secular place, that the complexities and influences of religion do not impact personal, national, or international politics. Religion as a marker of personal, group and state identities has been a determinant of international cooperation and conflicts long before Huntington’s clash-of-civilizations or Albrights’ mighty-and-almighty theses. It continues to influence our globalized world where religion is a powerful determination of identity being, becoming and belonging. Even today, at least thirteen countries have laws that criminalize atheists. Leaders like Cameron chose to describe the UK as a ‘Christian country’ when only 30% of its citizens consider themselves religious. Wars are fought over real and ‘constructed’ religious messages. Terrorism maligns the name of religions while many others simply practice their faiths. At this conference we will brainstorm the many facets of religion and dialogue about this important and difficult subject in a respectful and meaningful manner with the purpose of making sense of it through academic exchanges."

During the two-day event, other panelists from the United States, France, Germany, Egypt, Turkey, and other countries will discuss a variety of topics dealing with the nexus of religion and politics, including the case of sectarian conflict in Ireland, the frontier of China and Mongolia, the Muslims of Georgia, the Islamic State and the war on ISIS.

The keynote panel closing the conference will include Ambassador Graeme Clark, Minister, Deputy Head of Mission at the Canadian Embassy in France; Dr. Christophe Grannec, a Francophone Canadian professor whose research on the role of NGOs and international organizations in promoting inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue was recently published as Le dialogue interculturel et interreligieux à l’heure de la mondialisation; Dr. Manlio Graziano, associate professor at AGS, an Italian scholar specializing in the geopolitics of religion whose recent publications include Holy War and Holy Alliance, describing the relationship between world religions and international disorder and In Rome We Trust about the increasing political influence of Catholics in American politics; and Dr. Sabrina Pastorelli, a French researcher specializing in politics and religion in Europe, whose recent publications include Religion in the Public Spaces and The Burqa Affair Across Europe. Ambassador Michael Einik, former American Ambassador to Macedonia, who teaches courses on diplomacy at AGS, will moderate the panel.

The AGS International Graduate Student Conference is hosted every year with the purpose of offering a forum for the exchange of ideas on the most pressing issues of international relations. Through this annual conference, the American Graduate School in Paris seeks to build bridges between academics and practitioners in the field to examine these well-known issues beyond the headlines and explore the wider context and the implications for international relations. The event is entirely organized by AGS Master’s and Ph.D. candidates in the AGS International Relations and Diplomacy programs in Paris, under the supervision of Professor Ruchi Anand, author of Self-Defense in International Relations (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

See conference schedule

See keynote panelists' biographies