Revisiting the Link: Politicizing Religion in Democratizing Countries (original) (raw)

Revisiting the Link Politicizing Religion in Democratizing Countries C onflict about the role of religion in state affairs is acute in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Are religious cleavages more prone to violent conflict than other cleavages? What is the relationship between religion and political violence? These are important questions in the study of politics but, more importantly, the answers we give have important implications for policy. Before we continue with this discussion, it is important to clarify certain concepts and set straight some common misconceptions. Anyone who is studying the relationship between "religion" and "political violence" has to confront the conceptual ambiguity that arises from the common usage of these terms. Eor example, different religious doctrines and faiths have a wide range of dispositions toward the political sphere. Moreover, there is wide variation in organizational structures (e.g. more or less hierarchical, transnational, or state specific), practices (e.g. proselytizing or not), and goals (e.g. establishing a theocracy or not). Using "religion" as an unproblematic category of analysis is tricky. Eurthermore, we should distinguish between conflicts