DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Interests

Research Interest(s): Religion in U.S. foreign and immigration policy; global politics of secularism and religion; politics of religious freedom; religion and the American border; US empire; US-Middle East relations; political theory and political theology; religion and race.

Program Area(s): Political Theory; International Relations

Regional Specialization(s): United States; Middle East

Subfield Specialties: Critical Theory; Law and Politics

Joint Appointment

Middle East and North African Studies

Religious Studies

Biography

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd is Professor of Political Science and Religious Studies and holds the Crown Chair in Middle East Studies. Hurd was educated at Wesleyan University (B.A.), Yale University (M.A.), and The Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D) and has taught at Northwestern since 2002. She studies religion in U.S. foreign and immigration policy, the global politics of secularism and religious freedom, religion and the American border, and relations between the U.S., Europe, Turkey, and Iran. She co-directs the Global Religion & Politics Research Group at Northwestern and co-curates the Teaching Law & Religion Case Study Archive. Hurd enjoys speaking to public audiences and contributing to discussions on global politics, law, and religion. She is currently researching and writing on the question of religion and the American border. Twitter: @eshurd

Publications

Prof. Hurd is the author of The Politics of Secularism in International Relations (2008) and Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion (2015), both published by Princeton University Press. She is co-editor, with Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, of At Home and Abroad: The Politics of American Religion (Columbia, 2021) and Theologies of American Exceptionalism (Indiana University Press, 2020), and also co-edited Politics of Religious Freedom (University of Chicago, 2015) and Comparative Secularisms in a Global Age (Palgrave, 2010). Her articles, book chapters, and public writing are available on her personal website.

• “Freedom, Salvation, Redemption: Theologies of Political Asylum.” Migration and Society 4 (2021): 110-123.
• “Politics of Religious Freedom in the Asia Pacific: An Introduction.” Journal of Religious and Political Practice, 4 (1), 2018. 
• “Narratives of De-secularization in International Relations.” Intellectual History Review, 27 (1):  97-113.
• “Politics of Sectarianism: Rethinking Religion and Politics in the Middle East.” Middle East Law and Governance, 7, no.1 (Spring 2015): 61-75. 
• “Introduction to Politics of Religious Freedom: Case Studies.” Maryland Journal of International Law, vol. 29 (2015): 288-99, co-authored with Peter G. Danchin, Saba Mahmood & Winnifred Fallers Sullivan.
• “Thinking About Religion, Law, and Politics in Latin America.” Special Issue, “Religiones, Post-secularidad y Democracia en América Latina: Reconfiguraciones del Discurso y la Acción Política,” Revista de Estudios Sociales-RES, no. 51 (2015): 25-35. 
• “Alevis under Law: The Politics of Religious Freedom in Turkey.” Journal of Law and Religion 29, no. 3 (September/October 2014): 1-20.
• “Editors’ Introduction.” with Winnifred Sullivan, Symposium: “Re-thinking Religious Freedom,” Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 29, no. 3. September/October 2014.
• “Religious Freedom, American-style.” Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica, no. 1 (June 2014): 231-242.
• “The International Politics of Religious Freedom.” IIC Quarterly, Special issue on “Living with Religious Diversity,” Sonia Sikka and Lori G. Beaman, eds., 2014.
• “International Politics after Secularism.” Review of International Studies. Special Issue, “The Postsecular in International Relations,” Dec. 2012. PDF
• “Debates within a Single Church: Secularism and IR Theory.” Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, Special Issue on “Religion and IR Theory,” (June 2010): 135-48.  
• “Iran, in Search of a Nonsecular and Nontheocratic Politics” Public Culture 22, no.1 (Winter 2010): 25-32.  PDF.

For works prior to 2010, see website.

Courses taught

• The American Border: Politics, Policy, Theology (Political Science 101)
• America and the World (Political Science 378)
• Politics of Religious Diversity (Political Science 390, Religious Studies 379)
• Religion, Race and Global Politics (Political Science 390, Religious Studies 471)
• International Politics of the Middle East (Political Science 395)

Public Engagement

• "It’s Time to De-emphasize Religion in U.S. Foreign Policy." The Hill, July 19, 2021.
• "Is There a Right to Heresy?" (with Nadia Marzouki). Boston Review, March 8, 2021.
• "The Paradox of Free Religion." Berkley Forum, January 12, 2021.
• "Religious Freedom, Public Health, and the Limits of Law." Canopy Forum, December 21, 2020.
• "Defund the Border Police: Racial Justice and the American Border." Canopy Forum, July 13, 2020. Podcast.
• "Islam in America: Review of America & Islam: Soundbites, Suicide Bombs and the Road to Donald Trump." Cairo Review of Global Affairs 36, Winter 2020.
• "Why Did a Muslim Civil Rights Group Oppose Democrats’ Plans to Confront White Nationalism?" (with Brannon Ingram). Rewire. November 15, 2019.
• "Three Myths About Religion and Politics." Canopy Forum: On the Interactions of Law & Religion (3 parts). Oct. 2-4, 2019.
• "Dangerous Logic at the Border: Religion and the Travel Ban." Religion & Politics. July 2, 2019.
• "The Conflation of Antisemitism and Israel Criticism Isn’t Unique, But it is a Problem." Rewire. March 19, 2019.
• "The Border President." Boston Review. June 28, 2018.
• Introduction to "Controversy over French Proposal to Edit the Koran: A Transatlantic Perspective" (with Nadia Marzouki), The Immanent Frame. June 25, 2018.
• "Does Religious Freedom Favor Some Religions Over Others?" U.S. Catholic. January 31, 2018.

For works prior to 2018, see website.

Awards

• ACLS/Luce Fellowship in Religion, Journalism and International Affairs. 2019-2020. Project: “Religion on the Border.”
• “Talking Religion: Publics, Politics, and the Media.” PI with Brannon Ingram. Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs, 2018-2020.
• Law and the Politics of Religious Diversity.” Daniel I. Linzer Grant for Innovation in Diversity and Equity, 2018.
• Buffett Faculty Fellowship. Buffett Institute for Global Studies, Northwestern, 2016-2019.
• “Politics of Religion at Home and Abroad.” PI with Winnifred Sullivan. Luce Initiative on Religion & International Affairs, 2016-2019.
• “Big Ideas” Faculty Innovation Grant, Research Group on Global Politics & Religion. Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Studies, 2015.
• Faculty Fellow. Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. “Religion and Politics Beyond Freedom and Violence.” Northwestern, 2015-16.
• “Politics of Religious Freedom: Contested Norms and Local Practices.” PI with Saba Mahmood, Winnifred Fallers Sullivan & Peter Danchin. Luce Foundation Initiative on Religion & International Affairs, 2011-2014.
• “Thinking about Religion, Law, and Politics.” Workshop Grant with Winnifred Sullivan and Robert Orsi. Luce Foundation Initiative on Religion & International Affairs, July 2014.
• 2014 Weber Award for the best paper in religion and politics presented at the 2013 APSA meeting. “The ‘Religious Offensive’: The Politics of Religious Engagement.”
• Equality, Development and Globalization Studies Speaker Series Grant. Series on “Religion, Law, and Politics,” 2014-15.
• Hewlett Faculty Fellowship. Northwestern course development grant, “Politics of Religious Diversity,” 2014-15.
• Content Consultant. Radio series: “God and Government: How Fourteen Nations Mix Religion and Government.” Nationally syndicated public radio show hosted by Maureen Fiedler and Amber Khan. Luce Foundation Initiative on Religion & International Affairs, 2013-2015; renewed 2016-2018.
• 2016 Religion News Association (RNA) Award for Excellence in radio or podcast religion reporting for “God and Government: China: An Atheist Country, Embracing Buddhism.”
• 2014 Religion Communicators Council (RCC) Wilbur Award for Interfaith Voices –“God and Government: Egypt in Crisis” in Category (7A): Single Program–part of series. Fellow. Public Voices Thought Leadership Fellowship Program, Northwestern University and the OpEd Project, 2012-2013.
• Visiting Fellow. Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen). Vienna, 2010.
• Visiting Research Professor, Center for the Study of Religion & Conflict, Arizona State University, Spring 2010.
• Postdoctoral Fellowship. Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, 2004-05.
• European-American Young Scholars’ Institutes Program. Summer Institute on Secularization and Religion, convened by José Casanova and Hans Joas. Erfurt, 2003.