Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats, and World Politics

Religious Sources of Conflict and Cooperation in the Modern Era

Bibliographic Data

ID5802002
AuthorsZeev Maoz (0000-0002-2616-5140, University of Michigan), Errol A Henderson (0000-0002-8636-5814, University of Michigan)
Year2019
Pages457
Publication date2019-10-02
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueScriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats, and World Politics (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of Michigan Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.3998/mpub.11353856
OpenAlexW4211026800
Open LibraryOL31366746M
ISBN9780472131747
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited134

Overview of the BookChapter 2. Tis chapter provides a critical review of the literature on religion and world politics.It discusses the key critiques of students of religion and politics.Tese critiques are aimed primarily at modernization and secularization theories.More broadly, however, students of religion and politics criticize the key paradigms of IR, tying these paradigms to secular conceptions of politics.Our focus in this review is on the key theoretical arguments of the extant literature, linking religious factors to various aspects of politics.Te modern literature on religion and international relations has some interesting and innovative ideas.At the same time, however, this literature is marred by controversy, vague conceptions, logical conundrums, and methodological problems.It is also plagued by a disconnect between the more general arguments it makes and the empirical work that builds on it.We fnd that the ratio of polemical to analytical work in this feld is very high.Moreover, the more analytical work-much of which we review in the empirical chapters that follow-is limited in scope, focuses on a restricted set of units, and rests on diferent theoretical foundations in diferent contexts.Tis suggests a need for a more coherent and unifying analytical framework that could yield testable propositions about religion and politics.Chapter 3. In this chapter we outline the theoretical framework that guides this study.Tis framework builds on several perspectives that are prevalent in the literature, but it ofers a broader set of ideas covering the issues addressed in the key research questions.Our framework focuses on two key elements that link religion to domestic and international political processes: the religious structure of society, and the relations between religious and political institutions.We ofer a causal mechanism that links religion to various processes of confict and cooperation within and among states.Tis causal mechanism, in our view, is based on the ability and willingness of political elites to use religious values and ideas as political weapons and key instruments of social mobilization.We suggest that political elites seek to maximize political survival-to attain political power if they do not have it (or do not have enough), and to retain their leadership position if they have one.To accomplish this goal, they need to put together and sustain a winning coalition that helps them fend of or defeat internal or external opposition.One of the key tools of political mobilization is the

Environmental ethics · International relations · Peaceful coexistence · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Scope (computer science) · Secularism · Sociology · Terrorism · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Conflict and Governance · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious studies · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · Politics & Government · Religion · Religion and international relations · Religion and politics · World politics

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