Religion has been profoundly reconfigured in the age of development. The past half-century has witnessed broad transformations in the understandings and experiences of ‘religion’ across traditions in communities in many parts of the world. This talk will explore some these transformations along the course of deepening entanglements of religious ideas and institutions with the sphere of ‘development’.

Can a tweet start a war? Miscalculation and miscommunication present some of the greatest risks and challenges to crisis stability. While the United States and other Western countries have typically viewed stability through a relatively narrow lens focused on nuclear forces, others, such as Russia and China, take a broader view and include offensive and defensive forces, along with information operations. This seminar will explore the potential impact of emerging technologies, to include cyber and social media, on crisis stability and nuclear weapons policy.

What is the effect of mobile phone ownership on civic and political engagement? With the spread of low-cost hand-held phones to all corners of the globe, the impact of the mobile technology revolution on politics is of great importance. Existing observational studies generally find a positive association between mobile communication and civic and political participation, including on violent and non-violent mobilization. Experimental evidence has been lacking on this question, however.