Explaining the Religious Engagement Agenda in Transatlantic Foreign Policies

Over the past decade, American and European diplomacies have developed a religious engagement agenda. In the US, a White House National Strategy for Religious Engagement has been developed and an Office for Faith-Based Community Initiative inaugurated. In the EU, several initiatives such as new trainings for European diplomats have been offered. Drawing from the public policy literature, this paper aims at explaining why the Religious Engagement Agenda emerged in foreign policy administrations. Adopting a public administration approach, I will map the formal and informal forms of institutionalization of this religious engagement and its main policy instruments both in the State Department and in the EEAS. In explaining why the religious engagement agenda is taking shape, I will consider three main factors: the role of transnational policy networks, domestic constraints, and risk management. The comparative method will be used to contrast EU and US findings.