Religion and International Relations: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?

Jeffrey Haynes

doi:10.3390/rel12050328

Abstract

The article surveys the recent scholarly study of religion and international relations/International Relations (ir/IR). The focus of the article is on two discrete periods: pre-11 September 2001 (‘9/11’) and post-9/11. During the first time period, Iran’s Islamic revolution (1979), the civil war in former Yugoslavia and Huntington’s ‘clash of civilisations’ (1993) were major foci of attention. The second period saw a large number of scholarly accounts following the 9/11 attacks on the USA, with a sustained focus on the international securitisation of Islam. The article concludes that following the recent diminution of the threat to the West of Islamist terrorism—subsequent to the apparent demise of Islamic State and the fragmentation and dissipation of al Qaeda—the study of religion in IR theory needs to take better account of changing circumstances to arrive at an improved understanding of how religion impacts on international relations/International Relations.

Highlights

Thinking about the association of religion and international relations, what do we know and how do we know it? In recent decades, much attention has been paid to how religion impacts upon international relations; not all of it has come from InternationalRelations (IR) scholars
The article concludes that following the recent diminution of the threat to the West of Islamist terrorism—subsequent to the apparent demise of Islamic State and the fragmentation and dissipation of al Qaeda—the study of religion in IR theory needs to take better account of changing circumstances to arrive at an improved understanding of how religion impacts on international relations/International Relations
Prior to 9/11, two developments caught the attention of some analysts: Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979 and Huntington (1993, 1996) ‘clash of civilisations’ paradigm; 9/11 significantly added to these, and together they have helped to sustain a focus on religion in IR over the last few decades

Summary

Introduction

Thinking about the association of religion and international relations, what do we know and how do we know it? In recent decades, much attention has been paid to how religion impacts upon international relations; not all of it has come from International. Thomas’ analysis was highly influential in developing attention to religion’s presence in IR and today, more than 15 years after publication, is still widely regarded as a benchmark in the development of our understanding of this phenomenon.2 While it is not always regarded as a significant component of religion’s return to international relations, the civil war in former Yugoslavia (1991–2001) is one of the most important events to reignite interest in national and international relationships involving culture, ethnicity and religion. Thomas notes that the relationship between “international society”—defined as the free association of autonomous countries engaging on the basis of shared interests, values, and norms—and internationally-significant non-state religious actors was a significant issue after the Cold War. several states are noted for the overt intrusion of religion into their foreign policies in recent decades, including Turkey and the USA (Öztürk 2021; Haynes 2021). This would motivate other researchers to develop related knowledge further

Religion and International Relations

Religion in International Relations Theory

Findings

Conclusions