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Political scientists are increasingly interested in the impact of religious authority on modern politics. However, little attention has been paid to the conditions under which religious leaders are more likely to speak politically. Tackling this question, this article argues that religious authorities should issue political statements at the outbreak of international crises, when secular institutions are unwilling or incapable of taking clear political positions. I test this argument focusing on the Roman Vatican through a quantitative text analysis of the papal encyclicals from 1958 until today. Latent topic models indicate that political themes systematically emerge in the papal documents and that the timing of the more political encyclicals correlate with years in which international crises break out. The findings have implications for the understanding of the modern relations between state and church and the political mobilization of religion today.

Political scientists are increasingly interested in the impact of religious authority on modern politics. However, little attention has been paid to the conditions under which religious leaders are more likely to speak politically. Tackling this question, this article argues that religious authorities should issue political statements at the outbreak of international crises, when secular institutions are unwilling or incapable of taking clear political positions. I test this argument focusing on the Roman Vatican through a quantitative text analysis of the papal encyclicals from 1958 until today. Latent topic models indicate that political themes systematically emerge in the papal documents and that the timing of the more political encyclicals correlate with years in which international crises break out. The findings have implications for the understanding of the modern relations between state and church and the political mobilization of religion today.

This thesis demonstrates the intersection of caste, doctrine, religious authority and monasticism in the Swaminarayan sampradāy, a Hindu devotional tradition founded by Sahajānand Svāmī. Religious traditions affected indirectly or minimally by colonialism or the nationalist struggle have seldom been rigorously studied. This thesis brings attention to the Swaminarayan sampradāy to highlight how pervasive societal discourses like that of caste and internal doctrinal developments, impacted religious developments concerning authority, hierarchy, and power. The reification of a doctrine and the creation of a theological office, coupled with the deification of a monk, Guṇātītānand Svāmī, and his low-caste disciple Prāgjī manifested a fractious environment in which theology, authority and ideas about monasticism came to be contested. Theological ideas drove Prāgjī's developing community, who adapted their devotion to Prāgjī as a result of stifling institutional politics and a modernizing Gujarat. Prāgjī's incessant preaching, distinct theological beliefs and own budding community, which adored him, changed the course of Swaminarayan Hinduism in western India.

The United States should take the lead in mobilizing the financial resources of the international community to support a new and radical approach to foreign aid for Islamic countries. This approach – a shift from large‐scale aid to the countries themselves or in the form of massive state‐controlled projects, both managed by central governments – to smaller, community‐directed initiatives across countries – can reap dramatic benefits. There is strong evidence to suggest that supporting communities in achieving their selfdescribed goals will help secure the economic future of Morocco and Jordan, which are entering into a free trade era with theWest, will help resolve the seemingly intractable Israeli‐Palestinian conflict, and significantly further the economic and political reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. As the local development process unfolds, it would marginalize secular and religious extremists, thereby strengthening international security. And by providing through this form of aid a vehicle for successful public diplomacy, the United States would foster an environment where mutual understanding on broader geopolitical issues is attainable. If realized, these profound benefits will be achieved by local communities creating prosperity through a pluralist democratic process. The United States and other nations should make funding of community‐initiated development in Islamic nations the highest priority, which can pave the way towards a new era of Islamic‐Western relations.

At an interval of approximately three decades from the establishment of diplomatic relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, the subject of Moldovan-Romanian relations remains a topical one both in the discourse of politicians and in the research of representatives of the academic community. Romania was the first state to recognize the independent Republic of Moldova. In the context of the analysis of the Moldovan-Romanian relations, this article is focused on the research of the specifics of the collaboration of the Republic of Moldova with Romania on the economic dimension. Therefore, are highlighted the main aspects of the Moldovan-Romanian political, commercial-economic and social relations from 2009-2021.

This essay explores the well-known tension between the commitment to a state religion and expressions of tolerance for other religions. The background question concerns the consequences of state religion, the more suspect of the two commitments, at least with respect to intergroup relations. A useful conception of state religion is as a central part of an identity regime, which can take several forms in national constitutions. It seems likely that state religion—and other exclusive elements of identity regimes—threaten the national attachment of ethnic minorities in ways that unwind many of the benefits of tolerance provisions. A simple typology helps to understand the variation in these provisions across jurisdictions and over time, and original historical cross-national data on national constitutions describes this variation in some detail. The evidence suggests that the world's constitutions are moving in strikingly divergent directions with respect to their provisions on religion. ; Government