Are the secular foundations of international relations sustainable at present? This comprehensive study shows how the global resurgence of religion confronts international relations theory with a theoretical challenge comparable to that raised by the end of the Cold War or the emergence of globalization. The volume tries to shake the secular foundational myths of the discipline and outline the need for an expansion into religiously inspired spheres of thought. It also challenges the most condemning accusation against religion: the view that the politicization of religion is always a threat to security and inimical to the resolution of conflict. Finally, the task of demystifying religion is taken further with an argument for a stronger and "progressive" political engagement of the worldwide religious traditions in the contemporary globalized era.

Autorentext

Carsten Bagge Laustsen, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Fred Dallmayr, Packey Dee Professor of Government, University of Notre Dame, USA John L. Esposito, Director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, USA Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice, Princeton University and currently Visiting Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA Andreas Hasenclever, Research Fellow at the Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt, Germany Vendulka Kubálková, Professor in the School of International Studies, University of Miami, USA Cecilia Lynch, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, USA Terry Nardin, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Volker Rittberger, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Tubingen, Germany Scott M. Thomas, Lecturer in International Relations, University of Bath, UK John O. Voll, Professor of Islamic History at Georgetown University, USA Ole Wæver, Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Inhalt

Introduction; P.Hatzopoulos & F.Petito PART I: INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL THEORY AND RELIGION Taking Religious and Cultural Pluralism Seriously: The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Society; S.M.Thomas Dogma, Praxis, and Religious Perspectives on Multicultualism; C.Lynch Towards an International Political Theology; V.Kubálkova PART II: WAR, SECURITY, AND RELIGION Religion and Nationalism: The 'Sacred' Dimension of International Politics; A.D.Smith Does Religion Make a Difference? Theoretical Approaches to Impact of Faith on Political Conflict; A.Hasenclever & V.Rittberger In Defence of Religion: Sacred Objects for Securitization; C.Bagge Laustsen & O.Wæver PART III: POLITICIZING RELIGION: TOWARDS A NEW GLOBAL ETHOS? A Worldwide Religious Resurgence in an Era of Globalisation and Apocalyptic Terrorism; R.Falk A Global Spiritual Resurgence? On Christian and Islamic Spiritualities; F.Dallmayr Islam and the West: Muslim Voices of Dialogue; J.L.Esposito & J.O.Voll Epilogue; T.Nardin