Reflexivity in External Religious Leaders’ Summit Communication Sequences (2005-2012) to G8 Political Leaders

Sherrie Steiner

doi:10.1177/2158244013515690

Abstract

Religious governance influence in international relations is underresearched. Using reflexivity as primary governance indicator, this case study examines the external communicational sequences of the only multifaith summits (2005-2012) whose purpose is communication to, and dialogue with, G8 and G20 political leaders about global responsibilities to empirically discern, independent of religious leaders’ self-identification, whether the quality of dialogue is indicative of governance behavior or unreflexive acts of international value struggle. Reflexivity is operationalized as historically embedded in social relations using methodological cosmopolitanism. Findings indicate that religious leaders use cultural capital to blur (not reify) social boundaries that inhibit international collaboration, and offer no evidence of unreflexive dialogue. Leaders use social capital to socially (re)construct boundaries for cosmopolitan responsibility to include the interests of the vulnerable that are impacted by, but excluded from, G8 and G20 decisions. This work contributes to the “empirical mapping” of religious governance in international relations with implications for their consideration as dialogue partners for global governance.

Highlights

Globalization is characterized by democratic expectations among the governed despite the absence of a global government; the legitimacy of globalization is maintained by “governance without government” (Mayntz, 2002)
I advance our understanding of religious soft power as governance by empirically investigating reflexivity in the case study of the World Religious Leaders’ Summits 2005-2012
Using data from nine summits held over a period of 8 years, I have described how the network of religious leaders reflexively interface with the G8 leaders to negotiate the legitimacy of their impending decisions in light of their moral responsibility to the poor and vulnerable of the world

Summary

Introduction

Globalization is characterized by democratic expectations among the governed despite the absence of a global government; the legitimacy of globalization is maintained by “governance without government” (Mayntz, 2002). The Summits of World Religious Leaders represent an important case study for empirical identification of a governance role, if any, for religions in international relations because of the deliberate, consistent, and persistent governance efforts that have been made from 2005 to 2012 to engage top tier religious and political leaders in dialogue about global risks (Steiner, 2011b, 2012).

Results

Conclusion