Student Feature – Religion and Politics
Both history and contemporary events remind us that religion can have a political impact on individuals, nations and international society.
Both history and contemporary events remind us that religion can have a political impact on individuals, nations and international society.
The results of the 2017 Dutch election show that issues of identity brought about by Muslim immigration to Europe continue to profoundly affect European politics.
Over 30 leading scholars focus on the complex roles that religions play in world affairs and move beyond the simplistic narratives and polemics which swamp the discourse.
Harris’ politics represent radical authoritarianism and nativism masquerading as progressive liberalism, glossed by a veneer of academic respectability.
There is no single normative Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. All world religions encompass diverse components and we might as well come to grips with the internal diversity of religions. After generations of theological harmonization, we recognize the obvious and admit that there is no single Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, but only Judaisms, Christianities, Islams.
Religion, in the past, had influenced the behavior of international actors without determining it, although its role often went unnoticed. This situation, notwithstanding the new found fascination with the impact of religion on international affairs, has not changed. Religion is neither the source of conflicts and disputes nor a panacea for global problems.
It has been suggested that the rise of religion confronts IR theory with a theoretical challenge comparable to that of the end of the Cold War or the emergence of globalization. I agree. To understand why we need to turn to the politics of secularism. How might we think about secularisms, in the plural, as forms of political authority in contemporary international relations? What does this mean for IR theory and the resurgence of religion? What kinds of politics follow from different forms of secular commitments, traditions, habits, and beliefs?
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