A 25th Anniversary Review of Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft
Religion, The Missing Dimension of Statecraft, now in its 12th printing, was a major breakthrough when it was produced in 1994. Co-edited by Douglas Johnston and Cynthia Sampson, it drew favorable reviews in more than 60 prestigious journals and periodicals including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Financial Times. The foreword was written by former President Jimmy Carter, and the book received praise across the political spectrum from Zbigniew Brzezinski, to Senator Sam Nunn (then Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee), to former Secretary General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
One of the book’s key insights was that religion plays a crucial role in many international conflicts, yet for the most part, policymakers and diplomats in the West have typically misunderstood or ignored its positive potential. The book brought together a collection of case studies and theoretical pieces which collectively sought to restore this missing dimension to its rightful place. It does this by offering the first systematic account of modern situations in which religious and spiritual factors had been instrumental in preventing or resolving conflict, while achieving nonviolent social change. This book in many ways was ahead of its time, given the challenges we have faced since 1994.
Douglas M. Johnston is president emeritus and founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, a Washington, D.C.-based NGO that bridges religion and politics in support of peacemaking. Before that, he was executive vice president and COO of CSIS. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.
Please join us at CSIS on February 5th to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this seminal work and to engage in a conversation with its principal author and co-editor, Dr. Douglas Johnston.
This event is made possible through general support to CSIS.
