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Jonathan Laurence is Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Director of the 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.,听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.聽

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,听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.聽聽

Outside of the academy, Professor Laurence is a prolific and respected analyst. During his time at the Brookings Institution (2003-2018), 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, 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,听Le Monde,听Der Spiegel,听the聽Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the聽Wall Street Journal.