State Control over Religious Peacebuilding

Abstract

Steen-Johnsen argues that it is necessary not only to consider the political strategies of a state related to the civil sphere, but also to study the enactment of these strategies in state–religious relationships. By drawing upon empirical data from Ethiopia, Steen-Johnsen shows how the political authorities in this context exert subtle and more open strategies to control political mobilization when religious actors engage in peacebuilding. This underscores the possible double nature of political strategies, as some forms of control are open and others more subtle. Steen-Johnsen outlines how the religious actors adapt to these forms of state control and develop an understanding of their own role as confined to not opposing the political strategies on how to deal with the conflicts with religious dimensions.