I’m flying to Baltimore, MD this week to attend the International Studies Association annual meeting. I’ll be presenting new research on Saturday, which looks at the ways states’ policies towards religion influence terrorist targeting. I found that states favoring a certain religion over others leads terrorist groups to launch more attacks against religious sites, as these sites become politicized and the focus on debates in society. This is my part of broader research on religion and political violence.

I will also be attending events held by the Religion and International Relations section (of which I am the secretary). We’ll be having our business meeting, a roundtable honoring our distinguished scholar award, and our reception on Friday.