Religion in international relations: Theory and practice

Current events happening around the world, especially the 'humanitarian interventions' by NATO and the West within the context of the so-called Arab Spring, make the understanding of the role of spheres of influence in international politics absolutely critical. Hast explores the practical implications and applications of this theory, challenging the concept by using historical examples such as suzerainty and colonialism, as well as the emergence of a hierarchical international order. This study further connects the English School tradition, post-war international order, the Cold War and images of Russia with the concept of the sphere of influence to initiate debate and provide a fresh outlook on a concept which has little recent attention.

The article is dedicated to a comparative analysis of the policies of higher education internationalization in Russia and China in the context of using education as a tool of "soft power" and humanitarian influence in international relations. The focus is on the role of educational cooperation, academic mobility, the promotion of national languages and cultures, as well as the institutional mechanisms that ensure the presence of the two states in the global educational space. The research considers higher education not only as a social institution but also as an element of foreign policy strategy that contributes to the formation of loyal foreign elites, the expansion of scientific and cultural ties, and the strengthening of the international authority of states. Special attention is given to analyzing how historical experience, geopolitical position, and models of national development determine the specifics of Russia's and China's approaches to the internationalization of the educational sphere, as well as how these processes relate to the tasks of regional integration and global positioning. Comparative, neo-institutional, and systemic approaches are used, along with concepts from the theory of "soft power," public diplomacy, and cultural diplomacy to analyze the educational policies of the two states. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive comparison of the Russian and Chinese models of higher education internationalization as elements of foreign policy strategy, rather than merely as directions of educational reform. The study shows that while the tools used—such as attracting foreign students, developing academic mobility, creating foreign educational infrastructure, and promoting national languages—are similar, the functional orientation of these mechanisms differs significantly. The Russian model of internationalization is more focused on preserving the historical, cultural, and linguistic space, primarily in the post-Soviet region, and serves an integration and cultural-diplomatic function. The Chinese model is characterized by a higher degree of systematicity, significant state investments, and a close connection between educational policy and the tasks of economic modernization and global influence expansion, including within the framework of major international initiatives. It is concluded that the internationalization of higher education in China is integrated into a long-term project of national revival and the formation of scientific and technological leadership, whereas in Russia, it serves as an important but predominantly regionally-oriented resource of "soft power."

This chapter introduces the volume by offering a survey of scholarship on religion in international relations (IR) to date and explaining the sources of religion’s exclusion from the canon of IR. It proceeds to frame the concept of religious soft power as a useful supplement to Joseph Nye’s well known formulation of soft power, arguing that current shifts in global order are generating renewed salience for religion as an instrument of statecraft. The chapter then provides an overview of the volume and its contents, showing how the various country case studies and theoretical discussions that collectively comprise the book offer a comprehensive analytic portrait of emerging cross-national patterns in the use of religion as a tool of foreign policy.

The ancients said, “The way to the heart is through the stomach.” Gastronomy, closely related to concepts such as public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, and soft power, plays an important role in Turkish foreign policy as a means to have an influence over hearts and minds. In addition, gastrodiplomacy activities also contribute to the country’s promotion, country image, and nation branding. This article examines the concept of soft power, gastronomy as an outlet for cultural expression, and Türkiye’s gastrodiplomacy in Africa. Soft power is a strategic approach that enables countries to gain influence in international relations through tools such as culture, diplomacy, and economy. While gastronomy plays an important role in the construction of national identity and belonging, it also provides a platform that strengthens intercultural dialogue and understanding. In this context, gastrodiplomacy is a diplomatic tool that aims to create a positive image in the international arena by introducing the cuisines of countries. The study emphasizes the importance of Turkish cuisine as one of Türkiye’s soft power strategies towards Africa that it relies on in this process. At the same time, the cultural diplomacy and gastronomy projects of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) and Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) in Africa focus on the roles of these institutions in developing Türkiye’s relations with Africa. This article examines the impact of Türkiye’s gastrodiplomacy activities in Africa on African people and its contribution to Türkiye’s image in the region, while also discussing cultural barriers and criticisms of these strategies for culinary diplomacy.

Regardless of the existing conflicts, the twenty-first century might be predominantly a century of soft power, most pronounced in Europe. Turkey, which geographically belongs to Europe and Asia, has been looking to achieve its foreign policy priorities and is changing its methodology of conducting foreign policy. The use of soft power based on national culture, political values, religion, economy, institutions, and international relations in the early 21st century represented a radical turn compared to earlier historical attempts. Throughout history, Turkey used hard power in the region, but it was mostly unsuccessful. Therefore, the nature of soft power represented an opportunity for strengthening Turkey as a regional power and a qualitative change of negative stereotypes about this country. However, it is evident that soft power in the changed regional security circumstances in the final years of the second decade in the 21st century is insufficient, so Turkey has started using hard power (military) again to strengthen its leadership position. This paper explains the soft power of the Republic of Turkey in the MENA region and the recent reorientation to the combination of military strength and diplomatic influence in international relations. How much that rearrangement in foreign policy will position Turkey in the new security and political circumstances at the beginning of the 21st century's third decade remains to be seen.

This article examines the emergence and transformation of Norway’s peace engagement in the context of changing international relations. Focusing on foreign policy discourses and practices, the article portrays peace engagement as a value-based effort to support resolution of distant intrastate conflicts, and a strategy to promote Norway’s interests and influence in international relations. The article also argues that changing international politics after the turn of the century has challenged and reoriented Norway’s peace engagement in a more realist direction. Foreign policy discourses and practices are increasingly based on a broad notion of interests that also include ideals of peace, democracy and development. This means that peace engagement can support a domestic political consensus on foreign policy, and simultaneously promote Norway’s standing, relevance and influence in international relations. Peace engagement has thus been institutionalized as a foreign policy that promotes peace while also addressing the challenges associated with smallness in international relations.

While the specifics of Europe's internal dimensions — its ultimate geographic boundaries and its future institutional design — have attracted much attention and caused considerable debate, the future role of the European Union in international relations by comparison has been neglected in terms of both public debate and scientific scrutiny. This is perhaps not surprising, given the massive enlargement of EU membership since the mid-1990s, which has absorbed much of Europe's political energies over the last years, and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the near future. At the same time, the European Union since 1990 has also seen its standing and its influence in international relations on balance increase rather substantially, even if this trend has been buffeted repeatedly by setbacks and crises. Indeed, it could be argued that European influence in international relations has grown not despite, but because of major crises which have forced the member states to focus on their shared interests and act accordingly. Whichever it may be, this trend has perhaps been most clearly observed from a distance: several prominent American observers even predicted that the twenty-first century would belong to the new superpower Europe (Kupchan, 2002; Rifkin, 2004).

The article notes that modern processes taking place in the world are causing the reformation of the system of international relations, forcing scientists to think about the conceptualization of the concept of "political influence". Any influence is a process whose goal is to change behavior, preferences, positions, feelings and emotions, beliefs, as well as group norms, mass attitudes, and social consciousness. Political influence is one of the varieties of social influence. Political influence is traditionally seen as a manifestation of power. In international relations, the concept of "political influence" is associated with the concepts of "state power", "state power". It is noted that influence in the international arena can be exercised using various means and mechanisms, in particular, using "hard" or "soft" power. At the same time, the same resources can act as "soft" or "hard" power, for example, economic, human, communication, etc. In the system of international relations, dialogic and authoritarian communication is used, which affects the results of influence. The article analyzes the means of influence, in particular, attention is paid to the classification of resources of political influence. It is noted that political influence in international relations depends on many factors: economic, social, informational. It is pointed out that there are various methods of political influence, the subjects of which are both individuals and large transnational corporations, international organizations and states. The effectiveness of political influence will depend on the specific characteristics of the subject and the object of influence, on their status in the international arena, prestige, will, etc., and the nature of the relationship between the participants. It is concluded that political influence in international relations is an integral part of them.

This study assesses the impact of international border walls on evaluations of countries and on beliefs about bilateral relationships between states. Using a short video, we experimentally manipulate whether a border wall image appears in a broader description of the history and culture of a little-known country. In a third condition, we also indicate which bordering country built the wall. Demographically representative samples from the United States, Ireland, and Turkey responded similarly to these experimental treatments. Compared to a control group, border walls lowered evaluations of the bordering countries. They also signified hostile international relationships to third-party observers. Furthermore, the government of the country responsible for building the wall was evaluated especially negatively. Reactions were consistent regardless of people's predispositions toward walls in their domestic political context. Our findings have important implications for a country's attractiveness, or "soft power," an important component of nonmilitary influence in international relations.

The article is devoted to the study of the concept of “soft power” in the foreign policy of the Kingdom of Spain. It analyzes the development of its national interpretation, the nature of Spanish “soft power” and the implementation of the “Marca Espana” state project in 2012–2018. The main objective of the project was creating an attractive image of the country in the world so as to provide the state with more influence in international relations. The particular attention is paid to the investigations of Spanish foreign policy by the research centers, which were involved in the theoretical and practical development of the project, mainly to the role of the Elcano Royal Institute. Within the framework of “Marca Espana”, some series of programmes were initialized in the analyzed period, and the public position of the High Commissioner for “Marca Espana” was created. His duties included coordinating the activities of governmental and non-governmental structures in order to assure maintenance of a positive national brand and its effective promotion in the world. As a result of the study, key successes achieved by the programme were identified, as well as the reasons for its replacement in 2018 with a new project named “Espana Global”. The authors conclude that despite a series of flaws, the project “Marca Espana” proved to be an important step towards improving the Spain’s national management system.

As part of the PLoS Medicine series on Global Health Diplomacy, Kelley Lee and colleagues provide a case study of Brazil's growing influence in international relations and global health, using as an example that country's role and use of “soft power” in the negotiation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Religion research in international relations (IR) has grown exponentially, but has it extended an understanding of religious agency beyond the assumptions of secularism? This article suggests the orientation towards religion in IR is now best described as ‘postsecular’ and employs a linguistic analogy to offer a three-fold argument. First, the study of religion in IR has shifted from a focus on morphology (i.e. the definitional forms of religion) to syntax (i.e. the political functions of religion). Second, by likening the dynamics of IR to the syntax of a sentence, the impacts of religion can be measured by linking religious actors and interests to different word-functions that make up the sentence. This is modelled by comparing the functions of religion in IR against the four noun cases of classical grammar. Third, applying the model highlights the constraint of secular ‘readings’ of the political by illustrating how religion can be sustained throughout the full ‘syntactical range’ of IR, thereby presenting a postsecular ‘reading’ of religion in the discourse of international affairs.

Narratives as tools of sociological imagination: a reply to ‘From discourse to legitimacy: narratives as instruments of influence in international relations’ by Armağan Gözkaman

This article is based on a study of the 2006 Asian Games held in Qatar. It was one of the first major international sporting events ever organised by Qatar that has since become a key location for such occasions. The purpose of this study was to explain the function of mega-events. They are associated with the event organisers to bring out the unique identity of a nation and to gain credibility with the international community through the use of an emotional dynamic. Analysis proposes to illustrate how this event affected Qatar internationally as part of soft power as well as the structuring role it played locally. The Asian Games were not to be perceived as an isolated sports event on the contrary, it was an integral part of a global strategy. Qatar needed to gain political recognition and to demonstrate its ability to organise other more prestigious sporting events. Moreover, this mega-event served a local purpose. It was essential in the process of identity affirmation. As a metaphor of society, sport had to symbolise excellence with regard to the values promoted. It was an opportunity to associate the modern aspect of sports with the traditional values of a political system and the Muslim faith. Previously, where sport was typically ingrained in the values that defined western society, Qatari leaders believed that social values could purify sports to become a method of socialisation. If mega-events were a means to increase Qatar’s influence in international relations, they also served as a cultural instrument that would impose a model for society and further increase the country’s influence.

Many scholars have examined how the United States should respond to a rising non-democratic China. Contrary to the well-debated hard power domain, little attention has been devoted to China’s soft power. This study is arguably the first to systematically investigate the US response to the establishment of Confucius Institutes—China’s global initiative to expand soft power. We argue that the US decision to establish Confucius Institutes is influenced by both macro- and micro-level variables. At the macro-level, as suggested by the power transition theory, the United States is more likely to accommodate Confucius Institutes when China shows a higher level of satisfaction with the United States. At the micro-level, US universities and state governments host Confucius Institutes due to budget saving and community engaging. Our analysis sheds light on how the United States makes trade-offs when confronting China’s expanded soft power, and it provides yet another prominent example of money buying influence in international relations.