This contribution constructs a three-stage integrative framework to analyse relations between nationalism, populism, and religion. First, following the work of A.D. Smith, nationalism is interpreted as a complex phenomenon with the capacity to accommodate multiple religious forms. Second, productive comparisons are drawn between the 'sacred properties of the nation' as defined by Smith with elements of the 'populist core' proposed by the scholar of ideology M. Freeden. Third, situating these comparisons within arguments by S.W. Hibbard on the dynamics of religion and politics, connections between religion and populism are partly framed as 'intra-communal' contests over competing ideologies of the nation. The contribution concludes with preliminary analyses of religion and populism in Europe and the United States, highlighting the value of integrative methods to analyse the dynamics of religio-populism in western contexts of nationalism.
Massimo Faggioli, The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis: Moving toward Global Catholicity. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2020, pp. 205, ISBN-13: 978-1626983687 (pbk). US$27.00.
The study of foreign policy and religion is arguably one of the most contested in international relations (IR). The following chapter identifies core elements of foreign policy and offers a comparative perspective on how these elements are studied within the IR discourse on religion. The comparative frame is constituted by three dynamically-related approaches to religion and foreign policy, understood as three contrasting modes of thought present in the work of scholars and policy makers. The chapter concludes with a comparative summation of each mode and questions for IR researchers and policy practitioners to consider.
Religion and culture seem like complex ideas to study from the perspective of International Relations. After all, scholars and philosophers have long debated the meaning of these terms and the impact they have had on our comprehension of the social world around us. So is it an impossibly complicated task to study religion and culture at the global level? Fortunately, the answer is ‘no’, for we can recognise and respect complexity without being confused about what we mean by each term. In this chapter, which completes the first section of the book, we will explore why thinking about religious and cultural factors in global affairs is as integral as the other issues we have covered thus far.
In the contemporary flow of irregular migrants worldwide, the predicaments of humanitarian work have become a source of public controversy and political disputation. Situated in the discourse of religion in international relations (IR), this introductory article considers conduct available to religious actors in response to the humanitarian challenge. Drawing on the case of refugees reaching the Italian territory of Lampedusa, the article offers a consideration of Pope Francis' visit to the island in 2013 via two interpretive modes of IR postsecularism. This approach, we argue, highlights the value of postsecular IR frameworks to interpret different dimensions of religious agency and to understand the unique resources available to religious actors in humanitarian advocacy.
This article frames religion as a contested category in the study of political practice and serves as an introduction to a special issue of the JRPP that interrogates the politics of religious freedom in contexts of the Asia-Pacific. Mavelli and Petito's depiction of two modes of postsecularism (2012) - summarised as the mode of religious resilience and the mode of radical critique - allows further consideration of contrasting assumptions shaping current debates about religion and politics. We suggest that the recent and influential scholarship of Elizabeth Shakman Hurd can be aligned with the mode of radical critique, noting the influence of Beyond Religious Freedom (2015) as establishing a platform for further critical studies of the political use of religion in diverse global contexts. New essays drawn from settings across the Asia-Pacific - Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Australia, United States, East Asia - are situated within this broader discourse and in conversation with Hurd's work. In addition, the inclusion of perspectives that instantiate the mode of religious resilience reestablish the interlocution between the two modes of postsecularism and the contested nature of religion as a category of political practice research.
There are numerous and significant points at which one could engage the arguments presented in Beyond Religious Freedom (BRF), a testament to the rapidly growing status of one of the most challengi...
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 post-secular 'reading' of religion in the discourse of international affairs.
Austin Dacey, The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights (London and New York: Continuum International, 2012), 196 pp., US$59.00, ISBN: 9781441107374 (hbk) Miwa Hiron...
brings out more clearly than other authors the significance of these developments. The author is particularly good on the nature of the employment of ministers. For instance, is ministry a way of making a living, or is a living what frees up the individual to engage in the ministry to which they have been called? Because of their lack of ‘feel’ for such questions, modern courts and lawyers have struggled to identify the true character of the relationship. The author’s careful identification of a series of relevant factors should mean that the courts are better placed to tackle these questions in future. In short, the book contains a sequence of invaluable accounts of different aspects of the law. The author’s mastery of the subject means that he can deliver telling criticism of decisions in a few words. For example, he describes the rival views of the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords on the position of the Church of England in the Aston Cantlow case, [2004] 1 AC 546, and comments, ‘Neither construction is adequate’. Just occasionally, there seems to be a false note. Perhaps to a modern commentator the commitment of the Free Church of Scotland to the ideal of an established church may appear ‘arguably quixotic’. But it would scarcely have appeared quixotic to those supporters of Dr Chalmers – including the huge fashionable London audiences for his lectures on establishment in 1838 – who were thinking of the work which a church established throughout the land could do to improve the lives of the poor, in particular urban slum dwellers. Throughout the book the author introduces more theoretical insights, which culminate in the final chapter. There he draws together his thoughts about the way in which the law and the courts treat religion today. He identifies what he describes as ‘a forced remoulding of religions by the law into a paradigm of late twentiethcentury liberal Protestantism’ – referring, for example, to the Supreme Court’s decision that ‘To be Jewish may not refer to matrilineal descent’. Perhaps the fundamental argument of this excellent book is that, whatever happens in future, religious organisations will remain too important for their position to be left as ‘merely interstitial’.
This unique and fascinating book illustrates that in moving the research agenda forward – despite whatever methodological pitfalls that may await in the attempt – the dynamics of religion must now be considered to be of central and abiding importance in the study of world politics.
