Religion In International Politics Research Articles

Limits of post‐secularism in Turkey: Comparing the attitudes of the Justice and Development Party towards the headscarf and Alevi issues

AbstractThe debate on post‐secularism indicates both the inclusion of religious voices into the public sphere and the rising importance of religion in international politics as well as in domestic politics of Western nation‐states. The term “post‐secular” firstly emerged to describe the Western societies where pluralism has been a vital concern for liberal democracy. Nonetheless, the very same concern is prevalent across non‐Western societies. In this respect, the Turkish case having a secular state in a predominantly Muslim society provides a vibrant example for the analysis of post‐secularism as Islamic‐oriented Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) has been ruling Turkey since November 2002. In this article, the success or failure of the AKP in representing a post‐secular moment in Turkish politics is analysed with reference to and in comparison of two issues. The first one is the Sunni‐Islamic demands on the visibility in the public sphere symbolised with the headscarf issue. The second issue is the demands of Alevis living in Turkey as they force the boundaries of the “secular” public sphere which has been dominated by the Sunni‐Turkish socio‐cultural identity.

Global Politics, According to Pope Francis

Pope Francis conceptualizes the papacy’s and the Church’s theological, social, and political aspirations from a global perspective as seen from the periphery of society and politics, not from the centrist perspective of the international realm of a world of states. Mapping Francis’ conception of global politics has various benefits for international studies: First, it fills a part of the lacunae in the literature which has been tagged with a missing mapping of “ideological visions of global politics”. Second, it helps to better understand the Church’s international political engagement and the Holy See’s further course of foreign policy under this pontificate. Third, at the example of Francis’s conception of the global realm and the place of the Church therein, the paper contributes to a burgeoning literature that moves beyond topically recognizing religion in international politics by outlining the relational dimensions of religion and global politics. If international and global studies want to make bold claims about the Holy See and take it serious as the largest transnational religious actor, then it needs to take serious its principal’s conceptualization of global politics.

A Neo-Weberian Approach to Studying Religion and Violence

research-article2014 MIL0010.1177/0305829814541506Millennium: Journal of International StudiesLynch MILLENNIUM Journal of International Studies Forum: Religion and violence A Neo-Weberian Approach to Studying Religion and Violence Millennium: Journal of International Studies 2014, Vol. 43(1) 273­–290 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0305829814541506 mil.sagepub.com Cecelia Lynch University of California Irvine, USA Keywords religion, violence, secularism, Enlightenment, neo-Weberianism, common good, (popular) casuistry, mission, religious freedom The preoccupation with religion and violence in both scholarship and public debate is a vestige of Enlightenment thinking that took on new force after the end of the Cold War and again after 9/11/2001, as several of the contributors to the Millenium special issue on religion published in 2000 (prior to the events of 9/11/2001) demonstrated. 1 Contributors to that issue argued that, while there are certainly religious interpretations and practices that condone or even promote violence, the fixation with the idea that religion causes violence needs to be examined because it shapes the kinds of questions we ask about reli- gion as well as the answers we expect to receive. In this contribution, I argue that the neo-Weberian approach to religion provides a way to avoid problematic assumptions that a priori connect religion to violence, but still allows us to understand the bases of religion/ violence connections where they exist. 2 This is because neo-Weberianism first situates religious actors and practices in relevant social, economic, political, and historical con- texts, drawing from constructivist insights and the methodology of Max Weber’s Sociology of Religion. 3 But, while Weber emphasized the ethical problems confronted by religious groups in the process of rationalization, he focused primarily on interpretation through constructing ideal-types instead of looking at the process of negotiating ethical struggles 1. Millienium: Journal of International Studies 29, 3 (2000). 2. Cecelia Lynch, “A Neo-Weberian Approach to Religion in International Politics,” International Theory (IT) 1, 3, (2009): 381-408. 3. Max Weber, The Sociology of Religion (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963/91). Corresponding author: Cecelia Lynch, University of California Irvine, 3151 Social Science Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. Email: lynch.cecelia@gmail.com Downloaded from mil.sagepub.com at UNIV CALIFORNIA IRVINE on August 13, 2015

Religion in International Politics and Development. The World Bank and Faith Institutions, John A. Rees, 2011, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, 188 p.

Religion in International Politics and Development. The World Bank and Faith Institutions, John A. Rees, 2011, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, 188 p.

God vs. Westphalia: radical Islamist movements and the battle for organising the World

AbstractThis article presents the operation ofal-QaedaandHizb ut-Tahrir, two of the most radical Islamist movements, through the lens of the relationship between religion as an organising principle for world politics and the state-based logic. It examines these groups in the context of repeated attempts by religious actors throughout history to render religion the dominant and constitutive element in world politics. Prior to the Peace of Westphalia, religion had a critical role in shaping the political landscape, but Westphalia relegated religion to a secondary position. While it accepted religion's role in the domestic affairs of the units in the international system, the Westphalian order kept religion subordinated to the logic of the state system. But religion maintained its ability to provide an alternative organisation for world politics. Whileal-QaedaandHizb ut-Tahrirare highly unlikely to bring about systemic change, their ascendance should remind scholars that the existing order is not inevitable and that the resurgence of religion in international politics also involves the resurrection of interpretations of religion that compete with and challenge the logic of the state-based system.

A neo-Weberian approach to religion in international politics

Current approaches for understanding and analyzing religion in international politics insufficiently incorporate the role of ethics in the practices of religious actors. Primordialist approaches essentialize religion, instrumental approaches consider it to be an epiphenomenon, and cosmopolitan approachesa prioridowngrade alternative ethical constructs as insufficiently universalist. An approach to religion that begins with a constitutive understanding of religious belief and economic, social, and political practice as outlined in Weber’sSociology of Religion, is more helpful. However, because Weber’s method insufficiently addresses ethical intentionality, the ‘neo-Weberian’ approach I advance here incorporates the concepts of ‘common good’ and ‘popular casuistry’ into socio-historical contextualization. This approach provides a way to understand and theorize how religious adherents connect religious guidelines to moral action that avoids the essentialization of religion which is often characteristic of other perspectives.

Le retour du religieux dans la politique internationale

The Return of Religion in International Politics, by Henri MADELIN Throughout the year 2003, new types of cards have been dealt out in the image of Cesar and God, in Europe, even more so in the United States and, pointedly, in Muslim countries. The three points of crystallisation of conflicts with religion as a powerful underlying élément were Afghanistan with the dispersion of the Talibans, the Near East with a road map put back onto the agenda by G.W. Bush between Israelis and Palestinians, and Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the growing difficulties encountered by the Anglo-American forces of occupation. The spectres of Holy War, Jihad and of the concept of just war could be seen to re-emerge. The Pope and the diplomatie action of the Holy See played a substantial rôle throughout this period. However, one may wonder how corne the images of the Christian God of the Americans differ somewhat from those of the Western Europeans.