Rethinking religious violence
Towards a mimetic approach to violence in international relations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8097475 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Scott M Thomas (University of Bath, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 61-79 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of International Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1755-0882 • E-ISSN: 1755-1722 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1755088214555464 |
| OpenAlex | W1987276028 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 39 |
The purpose of this article is to use René Girard’s mimetic theory in order to rethink the thorny relationship between religion, culture and violence and to relate it to some of the key issues in international relations theory. In doing this, I will examine the concept of the ‘ambivalence of the sacred’, which underlies much scholarly research on religion and international relations – what factors, under which conditions, does religion contribute to peace or to violence. As I will show, mimetic theory questions, or at least reconfigures, the mainstream construction of the problem of religion and violence – the violent eruptions that disturb social peace and social cohesion – to critically examine the sources of the unveiled, hidden, violence and the scapegoat ideology that operates in domestic society and in foreign policy to maintain any society’s cultural and political order
Ambivalence · Criminology · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ideology · International relations · International relations theory · Mainstream · Political science · Political violence · Politics · Scapegoat · Social order · Sociology · Political Conflict and Governance · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy · Law · Social Psychology
Religion and Violence from a Political Science Perspective
Religious Terrorism as Performance Violence
Mimetic Theories of Religion and Violence
International Authority and the Responsibility to Protect
Violence and the Sacred
International Relations and the Problem of Difference
Slaves to Fashion
‘All these theories yet the bodies keep piling up’
Epic Encounters
A Secular Age
The Myth of Religious Violence
Before Religion
A neo-Weberian approach to religion in international politics
Holy terror”
The New Business of War
Islam, Christianity, and Forcible Humanitarian Intervention
Principles, Politics, and Humanitarian Action
Two Cheers for Humanitarianism
Social Forces, States and World Orders
How does religion matter? Pathways to religion in International Relations
Getting Religion? The Puzzling Case of Islam and Civil War
Libya and the Future of Liberal Intervention
The evolution of the responsibility to protect
Disarming Libya? A reassessment after the Arab Spring
Bartolomé de las Casas and the African Slave Trade
In Defence of Religion
Violence and the Sacred
Just War against Barbarians
What's so 'religious' about 'religious terrorism
Explaining the Political Ambivalence of Religion
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2025 (10) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |