Religion in Third World Politics: Jeff Haynes (original) (raw)
Related papers
(Co-Author, Galina Lindquist) In, Religion, Politics, and Globalization: Anthropological Approaches, New York: Berghahn, 2011, pp. 1-66
This book offers a range of case-studies from around the globe-India, Indonesia, the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, the United States-that take up the tangled relationships between religion and politics in the presentness of this globalizing age. Mostly by anthropologists, the chapters exemplify how a relevant anthropology concentrates especially on the ethnographic and the factual. The case-studies illuminate the fi ner details of confl icts in the entanglement and the diffi culties of resolving these. They add to the current understanding in the social sciences of just how mistaken were the claims of a generation and more ago that with modernization, religion withered away while much of the world's people secularized, thereby becoming heirs of the Western Enlightenment. Such claims maintained that as heirs of the Enlightenment, people should have a greater appreciation of the very metaphysics of science-based knowledge, and not only of the uses of technology. This appreciation should inspire confi dence in rational decision making whose premises and outcomes are transparent and explicitly accountable for in terms of linear cause-and-effect relationships, without any irrational, mystifying mumbo-jumbo. 1 Nonetheless, states that can best be called "theocratic"-religious-political systems that modernity sought to relegate to history-proliferate all over the globe and claim their say in international affairs. In avowedly secular states including those that Notes for this chapter begin on page 55.
From Faith to Freedom: The Role of Religious Actors in Global Democratic Progress
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Examining all cases of global democratization between 1972 and 2009 (excluding countries with populations of less than 1 million, while including countries that made democratic progress but fell short of consolidated democratic perfection), the paper explores where and why religious actors made a pro-democratic difference. The analysis finds that religious actors played a significant supporting or leading role in more than half of all cases of global democratization in this period. Although the majority of the pro-democratic religious actors in these cases was Roman Catholic, the best explanation for their pro-democratic activity lies not in religious tradition or identity per se (Catholic v. Protestant or Christian v. Muslim, for example). Instead, the paper argues that the best explanation lies in a combination of two key variables: (1) the given religious actor's institutional or structural relationship to the state and (2) the religious actor's theology of politics and government-its political theology. Where religious actors enjoy some instititutional independence from the state as well as a political theology that is at least compatible with liberal democracy, they are likely to play a democratizing role. The combination of these two factors-a religious actor's proximity to power and its theology of power-provides a robust explanation even of differences in political behavior between religious actors of the same religious tradition (for example, why Brazilian and Chilean Catholic actors were prodemocratic while Argentine Catholic actors were not for the most part) as well as offers a satisfying explanation of the so-called "democracy deficit" in the Muslim world.
Religion and Comparative Political Sociology
Sociology Compass, 2010
In the last decade, religious politics seemed to sweep the world. Calls have been issued for religion to regain its rightful place in the study of politics. We contend that the influence of religion on politics is hardly novel and that religious beliefs and organizations have had a profound effect on polities both in the developed democracies and in developing societies. Drawing widely on the comparative sociology of politics, we trace the role of religion in the generation of political attitudes and preferences, in the process of democratization, in the formation of interest organizations and confessional parties, and consider the contemporary debate concerning religious violence. We will demonstrate the importance of religion in inspiring political behavior, including both electoral and non-electoral politics, and in the shaping of political institutions and the regulatory framework surrounding the religious sphere. Our survey indicates that neither arguments concerning the secularization of polity and society nor for the recent return of religious fervor to politics is persuasive. Religion is, and has been, fundamental to modern politics. In the decades following the Second World War many social scientists expected the progressive secularization of politics and society, particularly in the advanced Western industrial democracies. Modern life would erode religion's plausibility, intensity, and authority. It would bring prosperity, security, and opportunity, displacing religion and communalism and initiating a 'culture shift' to post-traditional values and lifestyles (Inglehart 1990; Norris and Inglehart 2004). As Inglehart (2000: 81-82) explains, 'Modernization theo-rists…have argued that the world is changing in ways that erode traditional values. Economic development almost inevitably brings the decline of religion, parochialism and cultural differences.' As part of this transformation, religious authorities would be increasingly distanced from governmental influence and responsibility, and religious sentiments would retreat to the private sphere. Presumably, religious politics were a doomed anachronism (Casanova 1994). Yet today it is evident that faith is loudly proclaimed and religious organizations jostle for public influence in both the advanced Western democracies and the developing world. Indeed, the contemporary vitality of religion in the United States (US) and other countries has led some to question the meta-narrative of secularization, with a new appreciation of religion as exuberant, global, and deeply political (Berger 1999). For sure, cross-national research does suggest a negative association between economic and social development and the intensity of religiosity (Inglehart and Baker 2000; Norris and Inglehart 2004). Nevertheless, religious politics have become impossible to ignore. The recent attacks on New York, Washington, London, and Madrid, like previous episodes of terrorist violence, raised awareness of the capacity of religion to foster radicalism (Juergensmeyer 2000). Few could ignore the influence of Evangelicals on the Bush administration or their broader entrance into the ranks of the American elite (Lindsay 2007), and the conflicts associated with increased religious pluralism that are manifest across the Western democracies (Banchoff 2007).
Religion in Global Politics: Theories and Themes 2016-17
The so-called ‘resurgence’ of religion in the public sphere and the domain of the political more generally in recent decades is now a significant area of interdisciplinary scholarship eliciting a complex array of responses, ranging from vehement opposition to the very idea that religious concepts and commitments have a right to expression in public, political debates to a reassessment of the provenance and implications of divisions between the secular and the religious and their relationship to the nation state. The current geopolitical landscape wherein ‘religion’ has become a force to be reckoned with has demanded a reassessment of once predominant understandings of processes of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within, secular assumptions and secularist positions. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a plurality of secularisms, and of religion as an invention of European modernity and colonialist exigencies are two of many emerging efforts to reconceptualise the meanings of religion and the secular and the entangled relationship between them. This course will offer a comprehensive overview of the various debates around, and theorisations of the nature of secularism and the role of religion in the public sphere in order to we attend to the central issue of how 'the secular' is constituted, understood, and instantiated in both domestic and international or transnational contexts. Other related topics will also be examined, taking a thematic approach, such as the relationship between religious discourses and political violence, the legislative difficulties presented by contradictions in liberalist political principles that underpin the political systems of the global North and models of multiculturalism, theocratic conceptions of the state, the role of religion in identity politics and transnational institutions, and state responses to religious identity claims and priorities, free speech and blasphemy, and religious discrimination amongst others.
Proceedings of the International Conference on Man-Power-Law-Governance: Interdisciplinary Approaches (MPLG-IA 2019), 2019
Modern institutions not only influence the current political situation, but also regulate the processes of political passivity/ activity of the population, transforming and modernizing the processes of geopolitics and the political system as a whole. Today, we are actively involved in the process of the device, which can be a catalyst in stabilizing and/or destabilizing the political space. The strengthening of positions of Islamic radicalism, the juxtaposition of the world of East and West, the activity of external migration processes, the terrorist activity of some religious organizations make us pay attention to the identification mechanism for politicizing religion based on the analysis of specific political technologies when working with potential recipients of such content. Understanding the specifics of the politicization of religion can help significantly in the development of measures to ensure social and national security. At the end of the 20thcentury,we witnessed a "religious renaissance " in which religion rapidly gained from the thaw in the traditional countries of Islam, reinforcing the link between political and religious spheres of society, as the former state of religion has been undermined by ethnotrauma [1], primarily in postsocialist countries, including Russia. The authors aim to look at the reasons "religious renaissance" and the politicization of religion as a factor of power, taking into account the identification of the impact on the transformation of the modern geopolitical picture of the world.
Religion and Nation: Modernity, Secularism, and Politics
2010
The papers published here are the result of a multidisciplinary symposium with contributors dealing with issues regarding the political nexus of religion and the modern nation-state. The symposium aimed to highlight the nuances and complexities of the politics of religion. We therefore asked the presenters to examine socio-political problems rather than questions of doctrine. In their varying approaches the participants rose to the occasion and moved discussion beyond the simplistic equations of the "rise of religion" in the face of globalization. Some of the specific issues included, legal-constitutional questions, religious and political violence, the role of religion in East-Central European Politics, political identities influenced by religion, political religions in the contemporary world, civil society and the role of religion, and a number of other considerations. The relationship between politics and religion was treated as something that was not merely a "str...
Religion and International Politics
This course introduces students to the major social science theories of religion. We look at the explanatory value of these theories for various aspects of politics: institutions and structures, political parties, civil society and social movements, conflict, and economic development. What effect does religion have on politics within and across societies? How effective are current theories in adequately explaining the interplay between religion and political life? The course encourages a dialogue on different methodological approaches to the study of religion and politics. This includes looking at area studies approaches and those who prefer a rational choice approach.
Religion and Politics In the International System Today
2006
This page intentionally left blank Religion and Politics in the International System Today This book proposes a post-Cold War paradigm based on the interaction between the contemporary globalization of the political, economic, military, and communication systems and the increasing role of religion in influencing global politics. Rapid technological advances constantly recast politics, economics, armed conflict, and the media. These four systems are thus becoming not just more international each in themselves, but they are also rapidly integrating with each other. As a result, the four world systems constantly create new environments in which individuals and societies must make rapid choices on the basis of their perceived personal and communal identities. This book constructs its new global paradigm by explaining the roles of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Maoist Marxism in world politics. Whereas secularism was the safe political bet for the modern West following the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), today's incredibly complicated global society can only escape its increasing economic stratification and global conflict with growing religious awareness, motivation, and public activity.
European Journal of Philosophy, 2006
Religious traditions and communities of faith have gained a new, hitherto unexpected political importance since the epochmaking change of 1989-90. 1 Needless to say, what initially spring to mind are the variants of religious fundamentalism that we face not only in the Middle East, but also in Africa, Southeast Asia, and in the Indian subcontinent. They often lock into national and ethnic conflicts, and today also form the seedbed for the decentralized form of terrorism that operates globally and is directed against the perceived insults and injuries caused by a superior Western civilization. There are other symptoms, too. For example, in Iran the protest against a corrupt regime set in place and supported by the West has given rise to a veritable rule of priests that serves other movements as a model to follow. In several Muslim countries, and in Israel as well, religious family law is either an alternative or a substitute for secular civil law. And in Afghanistan (and soon in Iraq), the application of a more or less liberal constitution must be limited by its compatibility with the Sharia. Likewise, religious conflicts are squeezing their way into the international arena. The hopes associated with the political agenda of multiple modernities are fueled by the cultural self-confidence of those world religions that to this very day unmistakably shape the physiognomy of the major civilizations. And on the Western side of the fence, the perception of international relations has changed in light of the fears of a 'clash of civilizations'-'the axis of evil' is merely one prominent example of this. Even Western intellectuals, to date self-critical in this regard, are starting to go on the offensive in their response to the image of Occidentalism that the others have of the West. 2 Fundamentalism in other corners of the earth can be construed, among other things, in terms of the long-term impact of violent colonization and failures in decolonization. Under unfavorable circumstances, capitalist modernization penetrating these societies from the outside then triggers social uncertainty and cultural upheavals. On this reading, religious movements process the radical changes in social structure and cultural dissynchronies, which under conditions of an accelerated or failing modernization the individual may experience as a sense of being uprooted. What is more surprising is the political revitalization of religion at the heart of the United States, where the dynamism of modernization unfolds most successfully. Certainly, in Europe ever since the days of the French Revolution we have been aware of the power of a religious form of traditionalism that saw itself as counter-revolutionary. However, this evocation of religion as the
The current debate on religion in international relations and its limits
The current debate on religion in international relations is very important because it speaks to many of the themes raised in international relations theory debates more generally such as the question of modernity, colonialism and decolonialization, development and underdevelopment, and the need for a real globalization of International Relations as a discipline with regard to its theoretical assumptions. In a first step I will briefly outline the debate on religion in international relations and highlight two problems: 1. First, the assumptions about modernity in the debate are decidedly euro-centric and need to be globalized. These assumptions also prevent a real understanding of the role of religion and secularization in the modernization process. They urgently need to be revised and the link between secularization and modernization to be severed. It is not necessary to be secular in order to be modern. 2. Secondly, the debate ignores questions of economic development and focuses solely on religion and violence. I will show that we urgently need to study the link between neoliberal economic globalization and specific religious social movements and that the absence of a discussion on religion in international political economy has had as a consequence that an important explanation for the staying power of neoliberalism, religion, is not taken into consideration.