Religion and Foreign Policy

Abstract

This chapter provides a detailed over-time analysis of religious groups’ attitudes on foreign policy issues. The chapter looks at religious groups’ attitudes on Britain’s international role in terms of two broad issue areas: Britain’s long-standing relations with the European integration process and the recent military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq post-9/11. The intention here is not to provide comprehensive coverage of the multitude of long-running issues and short-run crises which have featured in Britain’s post-war external relations. Indeed, even if this was the intention it would be severely hindered by the lack of a regular or periodic foreign policy attitudes survey of British public opinion in the post-war decades. The chapter does, however, provide some insight into the over-time attitudes of religious groups towards issues of war – recent military interventions – and peace, specifically, Britain’s role in the European integration process. Policy-specific examples are therefore provided of the types of attitudinal measures which would fit into the broader opinion dimensions of ‘militant internationalism’ and ‘cooperative internationalism’ (Guth 2012). These two dimensions can be summarised as: Militant internationalism comprises a preference for security through military strength, national patriotism, and scepticism about international agreements. Cooperative internationalism, on the other hand, stresses the importance of diplomacy, multilateral agreements, and international cooperation on issues of world peace, world poverty, disease and environmental degradation (Guth 2012: 173).