Research Fields:

Jonathan Fox (Ph.D. University of Maryland, 1997) specializes in the influence of religion on politics which he examines using both quantitative and qualitative methodology. This includes analyses of the impact of religion on domestic conflict, terrorism, international intervention, and international relations as well as the Religion and State project. His other research interests include the quantitative analysis of Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" theory, nationalism, and ethnic conflict.

The Religion and State (RAS) project is funded by the John Templeton Foundation, Israel Science Foundation, and the Sara and Simha Lainer Chair in Democracy and Civility. The RAS project has collected detailed information on =g0vernment involvement in religion which includes 62 variables for 175 countries for the 1990-2002 period and is currently in the process of expanding the dataset through 2008 and increasing it to about 300 variables. Studies based on the project, including A World Survey of Religion and the State (Cambridge University Press, 2008) examine the impact of state religion on phenomena including economic development, international crises, human rights, individual religiosity, and democracy.

Prof. Fox teaches courses on religion and conflict, civil conflict, US politics, and "Political Science Fiction--Political Science and Science Fiction Literature." Since 1997, Prof. Fox has been on the Faculty of the Political Studies Department of Bar-Ilan University and since 2001 a research fellow at Bar-Ilan's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and since 2004 a senior research fellow. In the past he has also worked on the Minorities at Risk and State Failure projects. Prof. Fox is the author or editor of five books and over fifty research articles and book chapters.