Ashlyn Hand has published a new book on the emergence and implementation of the International Religious Freedom Act. Prioritizing Faith: International Religious Freedom and U.S. Foreign Policy came out last month with NYU Press.
Hand, who is now assistant director at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, spent the 2021-22 academic year as an America in the World Consortium postdoctoral fellow at the Program in American Grand Strategy.
AGS had the pleasure of welcoming Ashlyn back to Duke last week for a fascinating conversation about Prioritizing Faith.
About the Book
The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 formally established the promotion of religious freedom as a U.S. foreign policy and national security priority. Tracing its origins and passage, Prioritizing Faith shows how the legislation was made possible by the convergence of growing evangelical and Jewish advocacy, the expanding international human rights movement, and a broader search for post–Cold War purpose. Yet implementation across administrations has been uneven, shaped by shifting geopolitical dynamics and internal institutional constraints.
Relying on expert interviews and rich archival analysis, Ashlyn W. Hand traces how Clinton, Bush, and Obama each wove international religious freedom into their foreign policy visions while navigating competing priorities and evolving strategic interests. Through case studies in China, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia, Hand reveals the inner workings and persistent challenges of American religious freedom policy on the global stage.
Timely, insightful, and deeply researched, Prioritizing Faith offers an incisive assessment of the United States’ efforts to promote religious freedom abroad, highlighting the enduring tensions between normative aspirations and the complexities of foreign policy practice.