Religion in International Relations: The Return from Exile (Culture and Religion in International Relations)

This book is an excellent resource for perusing some interesting postmodern developments in international relations theory. It presents relevant questions for global politics, considering the world-wide religious resurgence and the supposed universality of Western (super-rational, Enlightenment) paradigms. It re-evaluates the Eurocentric basis for imposing the Euro-American worldview on non-western nations. Fascinating, and full of creative thinking!

Are the secular foundations of international relations sustainable at present? This comprehensive study shows how the global resurgence of religion confronts international relations theory with a theoretical challenge comparable to that raised by the end of the Cold War or the emergence of globalization. The volume tries to shake the secular foundational myths of the discipline and outline the need for an expansion into religiously inspired spheres of thought. It also challenges the most condemning accusation against religion: the view that the politicization of religion is always a threat to security and inimical to the resolution of conflict. Finally, the task of demystifying religion is taken further with an argument for a stronger and progressive political engagement of the worldwide religious traditions in the contemporary globalized era.

Contributors

Carsten Bagge Laustsen, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Fred Dallmayr, Packey Dee Professor of Government, University of Notre Dame, USA John L. Esposito, Director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, USA Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice, Princeton University and currently Visiting Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA Andreas Hasenclever, Research Fellow at the Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt, Germany Vendulka Kubálková, Professor in the School of International Studies, University of Miami, USA Cecilia Lynch, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, USA Terry Nardin, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Volker Rittberger, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Tubingen, Germany Scott M. Thomas, Lecturer in International Relations, University of Bath, UK John O. Voll, Professor of Islamic History at Georgetown University, USA Ole Wæver, Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denma

Foreign Affairs

Most thinking about international relations ignores religion. But in fact, religious influences have always been more important than most people realize — and today, that importance is only growing. This collection of essays provides a useful survey of how religion, particularly Christianity and Islam, has affected modern international politics. Scott Thomas disputes the presumption that religion and cultural pluralism cannot be reconciled in international society and argues that to see today's religious movements as part of a fundamentalist-driven clash of civilizations misses their role in a broader struggle to find alternative paths to modernity. Other authors challenge the assumption that the politicization of religion is inevitably a threat to international security. Overall, the book is short on empirical explorations of contemporary religious disputes, but its message is sensible: diplomats and scholars must engage, not ignore, global religious movements.

Are the secular foundations of international relations sustainable at present? This comprehensive study shows how the global resurgence of religion confronts international relations theory with a theoretical challenge comparable to that raised by the end of the Cold War or the emergence of globalization. The volume tries to shake the secular foundational myths of the discipline and outline the need for an expansion into religiously inspired spheres of thought. It also challenges the most condemning accusation against religion: the view that the politicization of religion is always a threat to security and inimical to the resolution of conflict. Finally, the task of demystifying religion is taken further with an argument for a stronger and "progressive" political engagement of the worldwide religious traditions in the contemporary globalized era. Contributors Carsten Bagge Laustsen, Ph. D. candidate in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Fred Dallmayr, Packey Dee Professor of Government, University of Notre Dame, USA John L. Esposito, Director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, USA Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice, Princeton University and currently Visiting Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA Andreas Hasenclever, Research Fellow at the Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt, Germany Vendulka Kubálková, Professor in the School of International Studies, University of Miami, USA Cecilia Lynch, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, USA Terry Nardin, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Volker Rittberger, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Tubingen, Germany Scott M. Thomas, Lecturer in International Relations, University of Bath, UK John O. Voll, Professor of Islamic History at Georgetown University, USA Ole Wæver, Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denma Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Contributors......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 The Return from Exile: An Introduction......Page 12 1 Taking Religious and Cultural Pluralism Seriously: The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Society......Page 32 2 Dogma, Praxis, and Religious Perspectives on Multiculturalism......Page 66 3 Toward an International Political Theology......Page 90 4 Does Religion Make a Difference? Theoretical Approaches to the Impact of Faith on Political Conflict......Page 118 5 In Defense of Religion: Sacred Referent Objects for Securitization......Page 158 6 A Worldwide Religious Resurgence in an Era of Globalization and Apocalyptic Terrorism......Page 192 7 A Global Spiritual Resurgence? On Christian and Islamic Spiritualities......Page 220 8 Islam and the West: Muslim Voices of Dialogue......Page 248 Epilogue......Page 282 E......Page 294 K......Page 295 T......Page 296 Z......Page 297 This volume centres on the creation of varied forms of individual and group identity in Taiwan, and the relationship between these forms of identity, both individual and collective, and patterns of Taiwanese religion, politics, and culture. The contributors explore the Taiwanese people's sense of who they are, attempting to discern how they identify themselves as individuals and as collectives and then try to determine the identity/roles individuals and groups construct for themselves. Ranging from the local essays to the national level and within the larger Chinese cultural/religious universe, these essays explore the complex nature of identity/role and the processes of identity formation which have shaped Taiwan's multileveled past and its many faceted present. The Western culture of modernity and the institutions of international society embedded in it are being challenged by the global resurgence of religion and cultural pluralism in international relations.