Although the role of religion in foreign policy and global politics is subject to increasing scholarly attention – a theme that Bettiza explored in his first monograph – the relationship between the sacred and state power in international relations remains under-theorized. Bettiza is currently writing a second monograph developing the concept of sacred capital as a particular way to conceptualize the entanglements between religion, states, and power in global politics today. These are themes that he also addresses and explores in a working-paper and two co-authored book chapters for the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power Project, a joint initiative between the Berkley Center at Georgetown University and The Brookings Institution.