Political Science Faculty

Jonathan Laurence

Professor, Director of the Clough Center

Biography

Jonathan Laurence is Professor of Political Science at 艾可直播 College and Director of the聽Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy. A specialist in comparative politics, Laurence has conducted fieldwork in more than a dozen countries, held fellowships in France, Germany, and Italy, and served as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He holds a B.A.,聽summa cum laude, from Cornell University, a C.E.P. from Sciences Po, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University.

Professor Laurence鈥檚 scholarship focuses on politics and religion in Western Europe, Turkey, and North Africa. He is the co-author of聽Integrating Islam: Political and Religious Challenges in Contemporary France聽(2006) and the author of聽The Emancipation of Europe鈥檚 Muslims: The State鈥檚 Role in Minority Integration聽(2012). In his latest work,聽Coping with Defeat: Islam, Catholicism, and the Modern State聽(2021), Laurence offers a geographically and historically wide-ranging comparative analysis of Islamic and Catholic political-religious empires. Arguing that Catholicism and Sunni Islam have employed analogous strategies for responding to the loss of political power, Laurence suggests that their histories have much to teach contemporary democracies and religious leaders about combatting extremism, preserving the spiritual authority of religious tradition in 鈥渟ecular鈥 states, and promoting peace in polarized societies. Professor Laurence鈥檚 scholarship has won acclaim from many organizations, including the American Academy in Berlin and the American Library Association. Most recently,听in 2022, the American Political Science Association named聽Coping with Defeat聽the Best Book in Religion and Politics, which was his fourth APSA award.聽

Outside of the academy, Professor Laurence is a prolific and respected analyst. During his stint at the Brookings Institution (2008-2018), he聽addressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill, briefed diplomats, led a team of analysts at the State Department, and served on the Foreign Policy committee of two presidential campaigns.聽He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and his research and commentary on international affairs have been featured on CNN and in the聽Washington Post, and he has published essays in the聽New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel,听迟丑别听Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the聽Wall Street Journal.

Selected Publications

鈥,鈥 Wall Street Journal, March 2024

: Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism and the Modern State, Princeton University Press.聽 2021.聽

鈥淲ie der Salafismus in unsere Welt kam,鈥 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 2016

鈥?,鈥澛 Foreign Affairs, November 2015

,听Religion & Politics, November 2015

鈥淲ill French Attack Fuel Tensions? , June 2015

鈥淭unisia, The Courage of Compromise,鈥 Reset Dialogue of Civilizations, February 2015

鈥淭he Algerian Legacy, How France Confronts its Past,鈥 Foreign Affairs, January 2015

鈥淭he 21st Century Impact of European Muslim Minorities on 鈥極fficial Islam鈥 in the Muslim-Majority World,鈥 Philosophy and Social Criticism,听 Summer 2014

鈥淓nnahda鈥檚 Historic Compromise: What Rome can teach Carthage,鈥澛Brookings,听November 2014

鈥淭he National Identity Debate in France,鈥 with Gabriel Goodliffe, The International Spectator, Spring 2013

鈥溾橫idwife鈥 or 鈥楽pectator鈥? U.S. Policies towards North Africa in the 21st Century,鈥澛爄n聽Cesare Merlini and Olivier Roy, eds., 聽Washington, DC: Brookings Press, 2012

鈥淭he European Left in Crisis: Muslims and Social Democrats,鈥 Dissent, Fall 2013

The Emancipation of Europe鈥檚 Muslims: The State's Role in Minority Integration, Princeton 2012