Religion and diplomacy in the Middle East

Join Michael Driessen, Madawi Al-Rasheed and Fabio Petito as they discuss with Professor in Practice James Walters how events since 7 October have reshaped the interreligious landscape.

Recent years have seen a growth in state-sponsored interreligious dialogue initiatives, particular within, and connecting with, the Middle East. For some, this is a welcome recognition of the religious entanglements in the conflicts of the region which can only be addressed when faith traditions are engaged. For others it is a cynical exercise in “interfaith washing” and a distraction from the real issues. In this discussion, Michael Driessen presents the findings of his new book The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue as the basis for a discussion of how events since 7th October have reshaped the interreligious landscape.

Meet our speakers and chair:

Michael Driessen is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of the MA program in International Affairs at John Cabot University. Driessen’s books include The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue (Oxford University Press, 2023) and Religion and Democratization (Oxford University Press, 2014). He has published scholarly articles in Comparative Politics, Sociology of Religion, Politics and Religion, Constellations and Democratization and essays in America Magazine and Commonweal.

Madawi Al-Rasheed is Visiting Professor at the Middle East Centre, London School of Economics and Fellow of the British Academy. Her research focuses on history, society, religion and politics in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, Middle Eastern Christian minorities in Britain, Arab migration, Islamist movements, state and gender relations, and Islamic modernism. She has published several books on Saudi Arabia. Her most recent book is The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia (OUP 2020).  

Fabio Petito is Professor of Religion and International Affairs and Professor of International Relations in the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex. He is also the Director of the Freedom of Religion or Belief & Foreign Policy Initiative at the University of Sussex and the Head of the ISPI Programme on ‘Religions and International Relations’ supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and member of the OSCE/ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Chair:

James Walters is founding director of the LSE Faith Centre and LSE Religion and Global Society. Since opening in 2014, the centre has developed programmes to promote religious literacy, interfaith leadership and a better understanding of religion-related conflict among LSE’s diverse student body, in government and among wider global publics. Professor Walters is a Professor in Practice, affiliated to the Department for International Relations and an associate of the LSE Department of International Development.

More about this event

The Department of International Relations (@LSEIRDept) at LSE is now in its 96th year, and is one of the oldest as well as largest IR departments in the world, with a truly international reputation. The Department is ranked 2nd in the UK and 4th in the world in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2023 tables for Politics and International Studies.

The LSE Faith Centre is home to the LSE's diverse religious activities, transformational interfaith leadership programmes and a quiet, reflective space for all staff and students. It runs innovative programmes and events promoting religious literacy and transformational interfaith leadership supporting students to explore, challenge and question religious differences.