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There is a growing realization among international relations scholars and practitioners that religion is a critical factor in global politics. The Iranian Revolution, the September 11 attacks, the ethno-religious conflicts such as the ones in the former Yugoslavia and Sri Lanka are among the many reasons for this increased focus on religion in international affairs. The rise of religious political parties across the world ranging from the Christian Democrats in Europe to Bharatiya Janata Party in India similarly illustrated religion's heightened international profile. Despite all this attention, it is challenging to situate religion within a discipline which has been dominantly secular from ...
This book examines Turkey’s ethno-religious activism and power-related political strategies in the Balkans between 2002 and 2020, the period under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), to determine the scopes of its activities in the region.
Ahmet Erdi Öztürk illuminates an often-neglected aspect of Turkey’s relations with its Balkan neighbours that emerged as a result of the much discussed ‘authoritarian turn’ – a broader shift in Turkish domestic and foreign policy from a realist-secular to a Sunni Islamic orientation with ethno-nationalist policies.
Öztürk draws on personal testimonies given by both Turkish and non-Turkish, Muslim and non-Muslim interviewees in three country cases: Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania. The findings shed light on contemporary issues surrounding the continuous redefinition of Turkish secularism under the AKP rule and the emergence of a new Muslim elite in Turkey.
Religion and democracy can make tense bedfellows. Secular elites may view religious movements as conflict-prone and incapable of compromise, while religious actors may fear that anticlericalism will drive religion from public life. Yet such tensions are not inevitable: from Asia to Latin America, religious actors coexist with, and even help to preserve, democracy. In Faithful to Secularism, David T. Buckley argues that political institutions that encourage an active role for public religion are a key part in explaining this variation. He develops the concept of "benevolent secularism" to describe institutions that combine a basic division of religion and state with extensive room for partici...
Annotation Through models that integrate religion into the study of international politics, the essays in this collection offer a guide to updating the field.
From the United States to the Middle East, Asia and Africa, religion continues to be an important factor in political activity and organisation. The second edition of this successful handbook provides the definitive global survey of the interaction of religion and politics. Featuring contributions from an international team of experts, it examines the political aspects of all the world's major religions, including such crucial contemporary issues as religious fundamentalism, terrorism, the 'war on terror', the 'clash of civilizations', the Arab Spring, and science and religion. Each chapter has been updated to reflect the latest developments and thinking in the field, and new chapters such a...
The book introduces a theoretical framework to understand the role of religious leaders in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
"In 1947, Myron Taylor, the United States (US) envoy to the Vatican and an ally of President Truman, met with several European religious leaders. In that meeting, Taylor called on "people of all faiths" to "unite upon a universal two-point declaration embodying the spirit of belief in God and belief in human liberty" (Inboden 2008, 124). The political significance of this statement is clear from the context: Taylor held this meeting to gain European support for the emerging struggle between the US and the Soviet Union. While much of Truman's early Cold War policies involved military and economic might, he also hoped to build up the America's "soft power" by appealing to common religious valu...
The aim of this collection of essays, the first academic book on the topic in English, is to offer a preliminary analysis of Gezi protests and address the following questions: 'How can we account for the protests?' and 'Who were the protesters?'
This collective volume examines the evolving political dynamics of the Eastern Mediterranean. Recently, both the opportunities, such as the energy resources, and the challenges, such as the enormous migration flows, have caught the international attention since they have redefined the balance of powers in the area. This volume assembles the analyses of acknowledged scholars and academics from the Eastmed countries, who assess the most fundamental developments of the region in a comprehensive manner, underscoring the significance of the Eastern Mediterranean for the world politics. The book focuses on readers and parties primarily at European level/ EU affiliated, interested in national, regional, EU or international aspects of the Eastern Mediterranean area, such as politics, security, migration governance and energy developments on regional and EU level.
Can the EU become a 'just' institution? Andrew Williams considers this highly charged political and moral question by examining the role of five salient values said to be influential in the governance and law of the Union: peace, the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy, and liberty. He assesses each of these as elements of an apparent 'institutional ethos' and philosophy of EU law and finds that justice as a governing ideal has failed to be taken seriously in the EU. To remedy this condition, he proposes a new set of principles upon which justice might be brought more to the fore in the Union's governance. By focusing on the realisation of human rights as a core institutional value, Williams argues that the EU can better define its moral limits so as to evolve as a more just project.