David Buckley, PhD

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. He is the author, most recently, of Blessing America First: Religion, Populism and Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration (Columbia University Press 2024). His first book, Faithful to Secularism: The Religious Politics of Democracy in Ireland, Senegal and the Philippines (Columbia University Press 2017), 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 finalizing his third book manuscript, with Steven Brooke, testing the effect of grassroots religious institutions in protecting vulnerable communities from 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. He chaired the American Political Science Association’s Religion and Politics Section in 2023-24.

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”

American Political Science Association, Weber Award for Best Conference Paper on Religion and Politics Presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting. “Religion and Populist Violence: Evidence from Killings in the Philippine Drug War” (with Steven Brooke).

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

Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, 2016-17

Gordon Smith and Vincent Wright Memorial Prizes, West European Politics, 2013

Social Science Research Council. Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship

Social Science Research Council. DPDF Alumni Workshop Grant

Cosmos Foundation Fellowship

George C. Mitchell Scholar, Queen’s University Belfast

Hopper Memorial Fellow, Georgetown University

University Scholar, Georgetown University

Jefferson Scholar, University of Virginia

Phi Beta Kappa

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
Populism and Democratic Backsliding
Religion and Foreign Policy
Survey and Experimental Research
Catholic Politics

Professional Memberships

American Political Science Association
International Studies Association
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

Education

PhD, Georgetown University (2013)
MA, Queen's University Belfast (2005)
BA, University of Virginia (2004)

Recent Publications

David T. Buckley. 2024. Blessing America First: Religion, Populism and Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration (New York: Columbia University Press).
David T. Buckley, Steven Brooke, and Bryce Kleinsteuber. 2022. “How populists engage religion: mechanisms and evidence from the Philippines,” Democratization. Vol. 29, No. 8, pp. 1455-1475. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2022.2067532.
Steven Brooke, David T. Buckley, Clarissa David and Ron Mendoza. 2022. “Religion & Populist Violence: Evidence from Killings in the Philippine Drug War,” American Journal of Political Science. Vol. 67, No. 1, pp. 205-220. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12669
Steven Brooke and David T. Buckley, “Parish-Based Responses to the Philippine Drug War,” GLD Working Paper, No. 52 2021.

Miles Armaly, David T. Buckley and Adam Enders, “Christian Nationalism and Political Violence: Victimhood, Racial Identity, Conspiracy and Support for the Capitol Attacks,” Political Behavior. 44, pp. 937-960 (2022).
David T. Buckley, “Religious Influence and Climate Politics in Duterte’s Philippines: Opportunity Lost?” in Climate Politics and the Power of Religion, ed. Evan Berry, Indiana University Press, 2022.
David T. Buckley, Jason Gainous and Kevin Wagner, “Is religion the opiate of the digital masses? Religious authority, social media and protest,” Information, Communication and Society, August 2021, pp. 1-17.
David T. Buckley, “Religious Elite Cues, Moral Authority and the Impact of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si,” Politics and Religion, December 2020.
David T. Buckley. “Context and the Classroom: Teaching Religion and World Politics.” International Studies Perspectives, vol. 20, no. 4 (November 2019).
David T. Buckley. “Religion-State Relations and Public Opinion: Norms, Institutions and Social Consensus.” Religion, State and Society. vol. 47, no. 1 (January 2019), pp. 104-123.
David T. Buckley. Faithful to Secularism: The Religious Politics of Democracy in Senegal, Ireland and the Philippines (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017).

David T. Buckley and Clyde Wilcox. “Religious Change, Political Incentives and Explaining Religious-Secular Relations in the United States and the Philippines.” Politics and Religion. Vol. 10, No. 3 (September 2017), pp. 543-566.

David T. Buckley. “Demanding the Divine? Explaining Cross-National Support for Clerical Control of Politics.” Comparative Political Studies. (March 2016) 357-390.

David T. Buckley. “Religious Actors and Constitution Drafting: The Philippines and the Arab Awakening in Comparative Perspective.” Journal of the Practice of Religion and Politics. Vol. 2, No. 2 (July 2016) 212-230.

David T. Buckley. “Beyond the Secularism Trap: Religion, Political Institutions and Democratic Commitments.” Comparative Politics. Vol. 47, No. 4 (July 2015) 439-459.

David T. Buckley. “Catholicism’s Democratic Dilemma: Varieties of Public Religion in the Philippines.” Philippine Studies. Vol. 62, Nos. 3-4 (2014) 313-339.

David T. Buckley. “The Optional Preference? Catholic Economic Advocacy & the Culture Wars.” Special Issue of The Forum. Vol 11, No. 4 (Feb. 2014) 641-70.

David T. Buckley. “Citizenship, Multiculturalism, and Cross-National Muslim Minority Public Opinion.” West European Politics Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan. 2013) 150-175

David T. Buckley & Luis F. Mantilla. “God & Governance: Unpacking the Relationship between Development and State Regulation of Religion.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Vol. 52, No. 2 (2013) 328-348.

Director of Center for Asian Democracy, Associate Professor, Paul Weber Endowed Chair in Politics, Science & Religion