About
Biography
David Buckley is Associate Professor of Political Science, and Paul Weber Endowed Chair in Politics, Science & Religion at the University of Louisville, where he serves as the Director of the Center for Asian Democracy. His research focuses on the comparative relationship between religion and democracy. His book, Faithful to Secularism: The Religious Politics of Democracy in Ireland, Senegal and the Philippines (Columbia University Press 2017), analyzes the emergence endurance of secular democracy in cases with politically active religious majorities. It received the International Studies Association’s 2018 Book Award for Religion and International Relations. He was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow (2016-17), serving as Senior Advisor in the Department of State’s Office of Religion in Global Affairs.
David is currently at work on two book manuscripts: one examining the changing place of religion in the U.S. foreign policy bureaucracy, and a second documenting the role of grassroots religious institutions in responding to violence associated with Rodrigo Duterte’s “drug war” in the Philippines. His research has been funded by the Social Science Research Council, APSA Centennial Center, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Notre Dame’s Global Religion Research Initiative, and the University of Gothenburg’s Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD). His work has appeared in leading journals of political science including the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Political Behavior and Comparative Politics, as well as media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
Honors and Awards
American Political Science Association, Centennial Center Small Research Grant. “Security Service Responses to the Philippine Drug War”
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Jack Shand Research Grant (with Steven Brooke). “Security Service Responses to the Philippine Drug War”
Program on Governance and Local Development, Research Grant (with Steven Brooke). “Parish Responses to the Philippine Drug War”
2018 Project Launch Grant, Global Religion Research Initiative, University of Notre Dame, “Religion and Comparative Election Planning.”
2018 International Studies Association's Religion and International Relations Book Award for his book "Faithful to Secularism: The Religious Politics of Democracy in Ireland, Senegal, and the Philippines," published by Columbia University Press in 2017
Teaching Areas
Comparative Political Systems
Graduate Research and Design
Political Research
Religion and International Politics
Religion and US Politics
Research Areas and Projects
Religion and Democracy
Survey and Experimental Research
Religion and Foreign Policy
Professional Memberships
American Political Science Association
International Studies Association
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion