The Reasons of Neglecting Religion in International Relations; a Critical Analysis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Professor of Political Sciences Group, Imam Sadiq University

2 Assistant Professor of International Relations Group, Faculty of Political Science & Islamic Studies, Imam Sadiq University,Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Since the establishment of International Relations as an academic discipline, religion has been neglected and marginalized by scholars and theorists in a way that we can consider IR as the most secular sub branch of social sciences. Scholars usually offer some reasons and justifications why to neglect religion and consider it irrelevant to international relations namely: the implications of modernity in western societies, the spread of secularism as an established principle, the Westphalian order of international system, the dominance of rationalist meta-theory, and the materialistic essence of IR mainstream. This article rejects such reasons and offers this hypothesis that nowadays in the aftermath of new developments such as the emergence of post secularization and post Westphalian process, the demise of positivism which put an end to the monopoly and dominance of the mainstream and the creation of a pluralistic context in IR, the marginalization of religion in the discipline in no longer logical and acceptable and taking this important issue area into consideration in quite possible and even necessary for understanding and making sense of global environment. As a result, continuous neglecting religion in IR, leads to inefficiency in understanding and explaining new events and phenomena in the world.

Keywords

References

الف)‌ فارسی
۱. دهقانی فیروزآبادی، سید جلال (1393). فرانظریۀ اسلامی روابط بین‌الملل، تهران: مرکز چاپ و انتشارات دانشگاه علامه طباطبایی.
۲. سیدامامی، کاووس (1386). پژوهش در علوم سیاسی: رویکردهای اثبات‌گرا، تفسیری و انتقادی، تهران: پژوهشکدة مطالعات فرهنگی و اجتماعی و انتشارات دانشگاه امام صادق (ع).
۳. سیمبر، رضا؛ و قربانی شیخ‌نشین، ارسلان (۱۳۸۹).‌ اسلام‌گرایی در نظام بین‌الملل: رهیافت‌ها و رویکردها، تهران: انتشارات دانشگاه امام صادق (ع).
۴. طاهایی،‌ سیدجواد (۱۳۸۹). «دین و روابط بین‌الملل؛ نگاهی انتقادی»، فصلنامۀ روابط خارجی، سال دوم، ش ۴.
۵. عبدخدایی،‌ مجتبی (۱۳۹۲). «تئوری‌های روابط بین‌الملل و خلأ نظریۀ اسلامی»، فصلنامۀ پژوهش‌های سیاست اسلامی، سال اول، ش ۴‌.
۶. عبدخدایی،‌ مجتبی (۱۳۹۱). «درآمدی بر نظریه‌پردازی دینی روابط بین‌الملل»، فصلنامۀ روابط خارجی، سال چهارم، ش ۴.
۷. قنبرلو، عبدالله (1391). «دین و تئوری روابط بین‌الملل»، جستارهای سیاسی معاصر، سال سوم، ش 1.
۸. نقیب‌زاده، احمد (1383). تاریخ دیپلماسی و روابط بین­الملل (از پیمان وستفالی تا امروز)، تهران، قومس.
۹. نقیب‌زاده، احمد؛ و ایزدی، امیرمحمد (1394). «رابطۀ دین و سیاست در عصر پساسکولار»، پژوهشنامۀ علوم سیاسی، سال دهم، ش ۴.
۱۰. هادیان، ناصر؛ و محمود شوری (۱۳۹۶). «دانش روابط بین‌الملل و مسئلۀ بازگشت به دین»، فصلنامۀ روابط خارجی، سال نهم، ش ۲.
۱۱. هانسون، اریک (۱۳۸۹). دین و سیاست در نظام بین‌الملل معاصر، ترجمۀ ارسلان قربانی شیخ‌نشین، تهران: انتشارات دانشگاه امام صادق (ع).
 
 
ب) خارجی
12. Barnett, Michael (2011). “Another Great Awakening: International Relations Theory and Religion”, in Jack Snyder (Ed.), Religion and International Relations Theory: Religion, Culture and Public Life, New York: Columbia University Press.
13. Casanova, José (2012). “Rethinking Public Religions”, in Timothy Samuel Shah, Alfred Stepan, and Monica Duffy Toft (Eds.), Rethinking Religion and World Affairs, Oxford University Press.
14. Chernoff, Fred (2007). Theory and Metatheory in International Relations; Concepts and Contending Accounts, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
15. Cho, Il Hyun & Katzenstein, Peter J. (2011). “In the Service of State and Nation: Religion in East Asia”, in Jack Snyder (Ed.), Religion and International Relations Theory: Religion, Culture and Public Life, New York: Columbia University Press.
16. Cox, Harvey (2013). The Secular City: Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
17. Dark, K. R (2000). “Large-Scale Religious Change and World Politics”, in K. R. Dark (Ed.), Religion and International Relations, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
18. Eisenstadt, S.N. (2000). “The Reconstruction of Religious Arenas in the Framework of ‘Multiple Modernities’”, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 29, No. 3.
19. Fox, Jonathan & Sandler, Shmuel (2004). Bringing Religion into International Relations, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
20. Griffiths, Martin, O' Callaghan, Terry & Roach, Steven C. (2008). International Relations: The Key Concepts, London and New York: Routledge.
21. Hatzopoulos, Pavlos & Petito, Fabio (2003). “The Return from Exile: An Introduction”, in Pavlos Hatzopoulos and Petito, Fabio (Eds.), Religion in International Relations: The Return from Exile, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
22. Hehir, J. Bryan (2012). “Why Religion? Why Now?”, in Timothy Samuel Shah, Alfred Stepan, and Monica Duffy Toft (Eds.), Rethinking Religion and World Affairs, Oxford University Press.
23. Jackson, Robert & Sørensen, Georg (2013). Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
24. Laustsen, Carsten Bagge & Wæver, Ole (2000). “In Defense of Religion: Sacred Referent Objects for Securitization”, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 29, No. 3.
25. Mandaville, Peter (2008). “How Do Religious Beliefs Affect Politics?”, in Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfuss (Eds.), Global Politics: A New Introduction, London and New York: Routledge.
26. McGrew, Anthony (2014). “Globalization and Global Politics“, in John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens (Eds.), The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
27. Mills, C. Wright (1959), The Sociological Imagination, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
28. Shah, Timothy Samuel (2012). “Introduction”, in Timothy Samuel Shah, Alfred Stepan, and Monica Duffy Toft (Eds.), Rethinking Religion and World Affairs, Oxford University Press.
29. Shakman Hurd, Elizabeth (2007). The Politics of Secularism in International Relations, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
30. Shakman Hurd, Elizabeth (2011). “Secularism and International Relations Theory” in Jack Snyder (Ed.), Religion and International Relations Theory: Religion, Culture and Public Life, New York: Columbia University Press.
31. Snyder, Jack (2011). “Introduction”, in Jack Snyder (Ed.), Religion and International Relations Theory: Religion, Culture and Public Life, New York: Columbia University Press.
32. Thomas, Scott M (2000). “Religion and International Conflict” in K. R. Dark (Ed.), Religion and International Relations, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
33. Thomas, Scott M (2003). “Taking Religious and Cultural Pluralism Seriously: The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Society”, in Pavlos Hatzopoulos and Fabio Petito (Eds.), Religion in International Relations: The Return from Exile, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
34. Thomas, Scott M (2005). The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations: The Struggle for the Soul of the Twenty-First Century, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
35. Wallace, Anthony F. C (1966). Religion: An Anthropological View, New York: Random House.
36. Wilson, Erin K (2012). After Secularism: Rethinking Religion in Global Politics, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
 
POLITICAL QUARTERLY
Volume 49, Issue 2
July 2019
Pages 333-351

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 30 April 2018
  • Revise Date: 10 February 2019
  • Accept Date: 10 February 2019

Share

How to cite

Statistics