Evidence-Based Policies to Address Religious Discrimination and Conflict
Dr Jason Klocek is Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations. His policy engagement activities aim to promote evidence-based policies and practices to curb rising levels of religious discrimination, tension, and conflict around the world.
Since 2020 he has primarily advanced this line of work through collaboration with the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) as a senior researcher on their Religion & Inclusive Societies team. He currently serves as the lead for projects on strategic religious engagement and the role of religion in non-violent action. Prior to these projects, he led a USAID-funded project that examined the link between freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), conflict and economic development. Through this partnership, he has produced two novel sets of tools for policymakers and practitioners. One is the Strategic Religious Engagement Evaluation Toolkit (StREET), which is the first framework designed specifically to assist with the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of programs that involve governmental and non-governmental partnerships with faith actors.
The second is a publicly available dataset, along with an interactive global map, on the religious dimensions of 183 non-violent resistance campaigns from 1945 to 2013. He regularly disseminates his research to a policy and general audience. This includes briefings for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wilton Park, USAID, and the National Intelligence Council. He has also produced policy reports for USIP, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education (NCITE) Center of Excellence. And he regularly publishes public commentary in such outlets as The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, NBC News Think, and SiriusXM POTUS Politics Channel.