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Perth USAsia Centre | Book presentation with Dr David Smith

When

5.00pm–6.30pm

23 March 2016

Where

The University of Western Australia

The Perth USAsia Centre welcomed US Studies Centre senior lecturer Dr David Smith to Perth for their first Election Watch 2016 event.

Smith's book, Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States, examines why the state has acted to protect some religious minorities while allowing others to be persecuted or actively persecuting them. It details the persecution experiences of Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Jews, the Nation of Islam, and orthodox Muslims in America, developing a theory for why the state has intervened to protect some but not others.

Smith argues that the state will persecute religious minorities if state actors consider them a threat to political order, but they will protect religious minorities if they believe persecution is a greater threat to political order. From the beginning of the republic to after 9/11, religious freedom in America has depended on the state's perception of political threats.

Featuring

  • Associate Professor David Smith
    Associate Professor David Smith
    Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, United States Studies Centre (jointly appointed with the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney)

    David Smith is jointly appointed between the US Studies Centre and the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney. His research examines political relations between states and minorities, with a focus on religion in the US. His book Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States was published by Cambridge University Press in 2015.