By the end of the 20th century, after great political upheavals, two world wars, the religion ; international relations ; Middle East ; Islam ; foreign policy regional politics ; nonstateactors ; global orderdecolonization process and political, social and scientific revolutions, it is hard to miss that the world is in a deep de-secularization process. In the Middle East, this process has taken multiple trajectories and has made geopolitics of religion central in reshaping regional issues and in restructuring modes of international politics and international system&rsquo ; s intervention in the Middle East.
The article surveys the recent scholarly study of religion and international relations/International Relations (ir/IR). The focus of the article is on two discrete periods: pre-9 September 2001 ('9/11') and post-9/11. During the first time period, Iran's Islamic revolution (1979), the civil war in former Yugoslavia and Huntington's 'clash of civilisations' (1993) were major foci of attention. The second period saw a large number of scholarly accounts following the 9/11 attacks on the USA, with a sustained focus on the international securitisation of Islam. The article also briefly surveys the position of religion in IR theory. The article concludes that following the recent diminution of the threat to the West of Islamist terrorism—subsequent to the apparent demise of Islamic State and the fragmentation and dissipation of al Qaeda—the study of religion in IR theory needs to take better account of changing circumstances to arrive at a better understanding of how religion impacts on international relations/International Relations.
This thesis investigates the problem of analysing religion in the study of international relations (IR), answering the need to build an IR framework that accommodates coexisting evidence for secularisation (the decreasing influence of religion) and sacralisation (the increasing influence of religion) in world politics. Part One lays a conceptual foundation, presenting three arguments. Firstly, three discourses of religion are inscribed across the general discourse of IR: the secular, sacral and integrated discourses. Second, together the discourses comprise the religious structure of IR. This construction encourages a situative approach (asking 'where is religion?') rather than a normative one (which asks 'what is religion?'). Third, the religious structure and the situative question combine to form the dynamics of religion model, a heuristic framework that meets the present need in IR to accommodate and differentiate secular, integrated and sacral elements of religion. Part Two operationalises the model via a study of religion in international development, occurring at three levels. At the level of discourse, 'orthodox' and 'critical' schools of development are situated within a religious structure, revealing the pervasive nature of religion throughout development theory. At the institutional level, the model is applied to analyse how religion entered the operational sphere of the World Bank Group (WBG). This application differentiates secular, integrated and sacral interests at work within and upon the WBG in the 1980s and 1990s, highlighting in new ways the ubiquity of religion in the development sphere. At the policy level, the model is applied to critically compare three 'faith and development' partnerships initiated by the WBG in the period 1998-2005. The model is then applied to a partnership between the WBG and the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), an initiative that began as an integrated vision of religion and development but gradually disintegrated. These studies highlight the significant ...
Those serving in the military and for- eign service stereotypically show scant professional interest in religion. Pre- sumably the security and interests of states hinge on secular concerns. Merging religion with politics only complicates matters, often inviting vio- lence, as wars of religion or terrorist acts of militant Islamists remind us. Re- ligion and Security innovatively compli- cates such Westphalian dispositions, urging readers to appreciate the reli- gious complexities of today's global se- curity environment and to consider the possibilities that constructive religious engagement offers for citizens and states the world over.
La corrélation entre religions et relations internationales est le fruit d'une rencontre entre plusieurs intérêts scientifiques. Elle correspond tout d'abord à l'intérêt grandissant des politistes et sociologues des relations internationales, à inclure 'structurellement' la religion dans l'analyse du nouvel espace mondial, à travers la présence multiforme d'acteurs religieux autonomes dans la dynamique du jeu et de l'action internationaux et à travers la question intensément discutée des dimensions identitaire et religieuse des conflits depuis les années 1980. Pour leur part, les historiens des relations internationales, avec l'aide des spécialistes en histoire religieuse, réévaluent la place des religions dans leurs études, comme ressource mobilisatrice et comme force directement agissante, dans la politique étrangère des grandes puissances, la construction des nationalismes, la dynamique de l'internationalisme institutionnel, les mécanismes de prévention des conflits, la dynamique de la décolonisation, la construction et les représentations de l'intégration européenne, et enfin les orientations de la guerre froide. Enfin, les sociologues des religions et du religieux multiplient les études sur la dynamique de la mondialisation dans les recompositions religieuses, comme ils s'intéressent aux mutations religieuses dans la mondialisation, et dans les deux cas s'intéressent à l'action politique dans ces dynamiques.
La corrélation entre religions et relations internationales est le fruit d'une rencontre entre plusieurs intérêts scientifiques. Elle correspond tout d'abord à l'intérêt grandissant des politistes et sociologues des relations internationales, à inclure 'structurellement' la religion dans l'analyse du nouvel espace mondial, à travers la présence multiforme d'acteurs religieux autonomes dans la dynamique du jeu et de l'action internationaux et à travers la question intensément discutée des dimensions identitaire et religieuse des conflits depuis les années 1980. Pour leur part, les historiens des relations internationales, avec l'aide des spécialistes en histoire religieuse, réévaluent la place des religions dans leurs études, comme ressource mobilisatrice et comme force directement agissante, dans la politique étrangère des grandes puissances, la construction des nationalismes, la dynamique de l'internationalisme institutionnel, les mécanismes de prévention des conflits, la dynamique de la décolonisation, la construction et les représentations de l'intégration européenne, et enfin les orientations de la guerre froide. Enfin, les sociologues des religions et du religieux multiplient les études sur la dynamique de la mondialisation dans les recompositions religieuses, comme ils s'intéressent aux mutations religieuses dans la mondialisation, et dans les deux cas s'intéressent à l'action politique dans ces dynamiques.
La corrélation entre religions et relations internationales est le fruit d'une rencontre entre plusieurs intérêts scientifiques. Elle correspond tout d'abord à l'intérêt grandissant des politistes et sociologues des relations internationales, à inclure 'structurellement' la religion dans l'analyse du nouvel espace mondial, à travers la présence multiforme d'acteurs religieux autonomes dans la dynamique du jeu et de l'action internationaux et à travers la question intensément discutée des dimensions identitaire et religieuse des conflits depuis les années 1980. Pour leur part, les historiens des relations internationales, avec l'aide des spécialistes en histoire religieuse, réévaluent la place des religions dans leurs études, comme ressource mobilisatrice et comme force directement agissante, dans la politique étrangère des grandes puissances, la construction des nationalismes, la dynamique de l'internationalisme institutionnel, les mécanismes de prévention des conflits, la dynamique de la décolonisation, la construction et les représentations de l'intégration européenne, et enfin les orientations de la guerre froide. Enfin, les sociologues des religions et du religieux multiplient les études sur la dynamique de la mondialisation dans les recompositions religieuses, comme ils s'intéressent aux mutations religieuses dans la mondialisation, et dans les deux cas s'intéressent à l'action politique dans ces dynamiques.
Amidst the global religious resurgence in the post-secular world, the field of international relations finds itself unwilling or unable to situate religion back to theoretical paradigms subject to the Westphalian–Enlightenment prejudice. Advocates of religion's theoretical and empirical significance often turn to religious soft power, a burgeoning theory that gradually becomes the anchorage of discussion but still suffers from conceptual ambiguity and limited explanatory capacity. This essay endeavors to fill in this lacuna by presenting the interdisciplinary attempt to integrate soft power in IR with the three dimensions of power in sociology, which results in a typology of performative, discursive, and relational dimensions of religious soft power. The explanatory and predictive capacity of this model is tested in the empirical case of the evangelical group's influence on US foreign policy of the post 9/11 Global War on Terror. A process-level historical account based on archival sources furthers scholars' knowledge of transnational religious actors' ability to seize both systematic transformations at the international level and contentious dynamics in the domestic environment, which generates a reorientation in norms, identities, and values that contributes to the outcome of foreign policy, thereby answering the un-addressed question of how religion influences domestic and international politics. The bridging of IR, sociology, and historical sociology, three fields often intertwined, suggests a future direction for not only the religious return to IR but also the overcoming of the "intellectual autism" of this discipline, which needs to be better prepared for continuous challenges of soaring populism, nationalism, and clash of civilizations in the twenty-first century.
For many decades, Buddhism in the West has been conceived as an 'other-worldly' religion with very little or –at least—limited authority in the public arena. This partial view of the Buddhist path overlooks the potential of Buddhism to interpret reality and help establish new causes and conditions to improve it. This thesis is rooted in Buddhism and seeks to develop a Buddhist theology in order to understand how international relations, as part of the contingent reality, are subject to change. Thus there is the possibility of reconstructing reality through the sum of individual will expressed in social groups, institutions and states. This Theology of International Relations follows a methodology of causality rooted in the dependent origination found in Buddhist theology. Thus, relative reality is conceived as the result of the interaction of different causes and conditions; individuals, through their thoughts and actions, provide new conditions which will be crystallized in particular social arrangements through an inter-subjective consensus. This arrangement is highly influenced by the individual's allegiance with the sacred, however this is conceived, and thus establishes an ethical guideline in the individual's relationship with other sentient beings and the ultimate level of existence. This dependent construction of reality goes from the individual level of analysis to the social, state, interstate and global levels in a chain of contingent reality. Therefore I suggest that states, institutions and society are the reflection of shared ideas, beliefs, goals and perceptions of reality between individuals. The human capacity to shape reality is rooted in the premise that they face a relative reality, one that is contingent on several causes and conditions. In Buddhism, all sentient beings play a key role in shaping reality but human beings play a unique role because they can overcome suffering when they recognize the interdependent relation of causes and conditions in a relative reality. If this is achieved, then absolute reality can be experienced, wherein the individual goes beyond all conceptions and senses in a state of emptiness of the self. These core ideas of a contingent reality, its construction through an inter-subjective consensus and the need to experience an absolute reality are premises which Buddhist theology developed and which this thesis explores. In chapter one this thesis considers the basis of Buddhist theology and how it explains the experience of the sacred, the role of religion and the potential for the construction of a relative reality. This thesis argues that religion is at the core of human existence as a vessel of faith which follows a particular theological path toward a communion with the divine. The Buddhist path, aware of the interaction of different levels of reality—relative and absolute—also conceives inner development and social change as key elements of an interdependent transformation. The idea of 'world peace through inner peace' is one advocated by 'engaged Buddhists' and found in the ethical code of Buddha's message. Chapter two examines how international relations became the arena where individuals, institutions and states converge and reflect the basic premises of their world-views, whether rooted in anger, hatred and ignorance of the interdependent nature of all phenomena, or based in compassion and awareness of a shared common good. In addition, it addresses the issue of the resurgence of religion in international relations and how it is present or absent from political science theories and policy making. Through this analysis, several established elements such as the concept of the state, secularism and religion as a source of war, are challenged in a new era of multi-agency and mutual influence through religious ideas, groups and communities. Following this inter-subjective construction of the world, the thesis presents two case studies which argue that religious leaders exercise political influence through their actions, ideas and beliefs. The first is the life and works of Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in chapter three and the second is the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in chapter four. The former having suffered the violent occupation of Tibet and the continuous attacks on Tibetan culture that led him into exile, and the latter having faced the policies of hatred under apartheid, the Dalai Lama and Tutu managed to suggest a world where forgiveness is rooted in compassion and were human beings share the responsibility of creating a compassionate reality. The final chapter develops a new approach to the study of religion and politics providing new variables of study and new categories to understand how international relations are influenced by religious ideas and movements. This thesis argues that there is a need to study and understand this interdependent relation between religious and secular actors through theoretical approaches in international relations and opens the discipline to new paradigms such as the Buddhist theological approach. The outcome of this partnership depends on the individual's decision to engage, whether in negative causation that leads to violence, fear, terror and the perpetuation of suffering or in a positive one which opens the possibility of peace and liberation from suffering through compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation, recognizing our common humanity and shared universal responsibility.
Defence date: 20 March 2015 ; Examining Board: Prof. Christian Reus-Smit, University of Queensland (Supervisor); Prof. Olivier Roy, EUI; Prof. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Northwestern University; Prof. Jens Bartelson, Lund University. ; The thesis argues that international scholarship has failed to take into account the manner in which the process of recognition presupposes and reproduces already recognizable objects and agents. The example used in the thesis is that extant studies on the recognition of religion in international affairs assume that religion is always already present and intelligible as a category of political thought and action. It continues to demonstrate how this tendency is inherent in the theory and practices of recognition more broadly. In forgoing study of the processes through which these agents and objects were differentiated and individuated in the first place, recognition cannot but contribute to their reification. Moving beyond this impasse in IR Theory, the thesis argues, requires a more finely attuned genealogical sensitivity when it comes to the question how entities of international politics become recognizable. This suggests that scholars dwell on the processes through which they are constituted and made intelligible, i.e. recognizable. This insight is illustrated with reference to how "religion" became internationally recognizable as a differentiable and politically relevant category in and through two distinct yet related historical processes: the partition of South Asia with the establishment of Pakistan and the foundation of the state of Israel in the wake of the demise of the British Empire. Both states were claimed, enacted and subsequently recognized along the lines of religious difference; Muslim/non--Muslim in the case of Pakistan and Jew/non--Jew in the case of Israel. By studying macro and micro processes through which religion became a differentiated, taken--for--granted juridical, cultural and political category the thesis shows the processes through which religion became recognizable and how this particular recognizable version of religion was reified through the international recognition thereof, that is, the recognition of these two states as a Muslim Homeland and a Jewish National Home. The thesis thus argues against the assumption that religion, in and of itself is a root cause in the establishment of these two states, a source of violence in the ongoing conflicts with their neighbors, or an instrument of peace. Rather it argues that religion was made recognizable and reified in a particular shape and meaning through the processes of the international recognition of the two post--colonial states. Rather than looking to recognize the importance of religion in international affairs, the thesis investigates the multiple manners in which religion emerged as a politically salient point of reference according to which a changing international order took shape and along the lines of which new international agency was and is claimed and recognized.
In this article, I examine religion-state relations and religious pluralism in Turkey in terms of recent changes in the religious landscape. I propose that there is a growing trend in the religious sphere that has resulted in a proliferation of religions, sects and spiritual approaches in Turkey. I argue that although the religious market model might not be applicable to the Turkish religious sphere during the republican era until the 2000s due to the restrictions applied by the state&rsquo ; s authoritarian secularist policies, it is compatible with today&rsquo ; s changing society. Different religious groups as well as spiritual movements have used the democratization process of the 2000s in Turkey as an opportunity to proselytize various faiths and understandings of Islam, with both traditional and modernist forms. In this period, new religious movements have also appeared. Thus, the Turkish religious landscape has recently become much more complicated than it was two decades earlier. I plan for this descriptive work firstly to provide an insight into the history of religious pluralism and state policies in Turkey. Secondly, I will discuss the religious policies of the republican period and, thirdly, I will evaluate recent developments such as the increasing number of approaches in the religious sphere within the scope of the religious market model.
International audience ; The political life of the States refers to a number of issues, particularly in the social, economic and cultural fields, specific to each society. The specialty of any activity in international politics would be to make collective problems emerge, to reveal the demands of political power and to propose solutions. In this context, the media would be involved in actions of socialization, mobilization, negotiation, promotion and participation. As the fourth power, they would play alongside the executive, legislative and judicial branches an essential role of actors and witnesses in the life of modern States and in relations between States. By their intervention in the process of pacifying conflicts, their power is no longer in doubt since they have proved their indispensable role both in liberal democracies and in other political systems. ; La vie politique des Etats renvoie à quantité d'enjeux notamment dans le domaine social, économique et culturel, propre à chaque société. La spécialité de toute activité en politique internationale, consisterait à faire émerger les problèmes collectifs, à révéler les demandes au pouvoir politique et de proposer des projets de solutions. Dans ce contexte, les médias seraient impliqués dans des actions de socialisation, de mobilisation, de négociation, de promotion et de participation. En tant que quatrième pouvoir, ils joueraient aux côtés des pouvoirs exécutif, législatif et judiciaire, un rôle essentiel d'acteurs et de témoins dans la vie des Etats modernes et dans les rapports entre Etats. Par leur intervention dans le processus de pacification des conflits, leur puissance ne fait plus aucun doute dès lors qu'ils ont prouvé leur indispensable rôle tant dans les démocraties libérales que dans les autres systèmes politiques.
The United States was the first country to recognize Israel as a state in 1948, and the first to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017. These positions demonstrate the unbreakable bond between the two countries. This long-standing alliance can be seen in their historical background where religion is highly valued. Americans and Israelis are united by their shared values and their commitment to the widespread of democracy, prosperity, and mutual security. Religion in Israel's support has also been a long-standing cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. While religiosity and partisanship do play a part in how Americans view each side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,this unfair posture has increased strained relations between Israel and its neighbors in the one hand, and in the other, the United States and the Arab world.
In: Schmidt , J D 2019 , Revisiting Development and International Relations . Aalborg Universitet. Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultet. Ph.D.-Serien , Aalborg Universitetsforlag , Aalborg .
The overall objective of the dissertation is to analyze the interaction of national development in developing societies and the world political economy. It is an attempt to challenge the bidden selectivity of present day IR by going beyond the partial explanations of the bits and pieces of the whole international system and at the same time uncover claims of scientific "objectivity" and "natura) laws" in human nature. It is also challenging the mainstream discourse of IR, which denotes that development has been consigned to the realm oflow pol i tics, except when the international order, as it has been constructed, is threatened. The objective then is to "connect the dots" by providing an overall theoretical framework for the concepts and empirical material presented in five sections and chapters of this dissertation. This is done by examining competing views of what development and later on international relations means and how they may be intertwined. The idea is not necessarily to reach a unified approach but to investigate the different theories, concepts and methodologies involved in a search for a valid framework, which may give explanatory value to a merger of the two disciplines "Development studies" and "International Relations".
