Hostname: page-component-7b9c58cd5d-sk4tg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-14T22:55:23.779Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explaining the Political Ambivalence of Religion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2007

DANIEL PHILPOTT
DANIEL PHILPOTT
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This essay takes on the broad question—what explains the political pursuits of religious actors?—by exploring two powerful influences on these pursuits. The first is differentiation, or the degree of autonomy between religious actors and states in their basic authority. The second is political theology, the set of ideas that religious actors hold about political authority and justice. Through global comparisons across religions, regions, and states, it seeks to establish the effect of both influences on two political pursuits in which religion's role is hotly debated today: support for democratization and political violence, including communal violence and terrorism. It concludes with lessons learned commonly from the analysis of both pursuits.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 101 , Issue 3 , August 2007 , pp. 505 - 525
Copyright
© 2007 by the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abadie Alberto. 2004. Poverty, Political Freedom, and the Roots of Terrorism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press and NBER.
Abu-Rabi Ibrahim. 1996. Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Albright Madeleine. 2006. The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God and World Affairs. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Almond Gabriel, R. Scott Appleby, and Emmanuel Sivan. 2003. Strong Religion: The Rise of Fundamentalisms Around the World. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Appleby R. Scott. 2000. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Berger Peter. 1967. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. New York: Random House.
Berger Peter L. 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics. Washington, DC: Eerdmans/Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Billington James. 1999. “Orthodox Christianity and the Russian Transformation.” In Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia: The New War of the Souls, ed. John Witte and Michael Bourdeaux. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Borer Tristan Anne. 1998. Challenging the State: Churches As Political Actors in South Africa, 1980–1994. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Byrnes Timothy A. 2001. Transnational Catholicism in Postcommunist Europe. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Casanova Jose. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Cleary Edward. 1997. The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Donno Daniela, and Bruce Russett. 2004. “Islam, Authoritarianism, and Female Empowerment: What Are the Linkages?” World Politics 56 (July): 582– 607.Google Scholar
Dowd Robert. 2006. “Religious Pluralism and Peace: Lessons From Sub-Saharan Africa,” ms.
Elazar Daniel. 1995. Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel: Biblical Foundations & Jewish Expressions. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Esposito John L., and James Piscatori. 1991. “Democratization and Islam.” The Middle East Journal 45 (Summer): 427– 40.Google Scholar
Esposito John L., and John O. Voll. 1996. Islam and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fish M. Steven. 2002. “Islam and Authoritarianism.” World Politics 55 (October): 4– 37.Google Scholar
Flannery Austin, O. P., ed. 1975. Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company.
Fleet Michael, and Brian H. Smith. 1997. The Catholic Church and Democracy in Chile and Peru. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Fox Jonathan. 2002. Ethnoreligious Conflict in the Late 20th Century: A General Theory. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Fox Jonathan. 2004. Religion, Civilization, and Civil War: 1945 Through the Millennium. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Fox Jonathan. 2006. “World Separation of Religion and State Into the 21st Century.” Comparative Political Studies 39 (June): 537– 69.Google Scholar
Fox Jonathan, and Shmuel Sandler. 2005. “Separation of Religion and State in the Twenty-First Century: Comparing the Middle East and Western Democracies.” Comparative Politics 37 (April): 317– 35.Google Scholar
Freedom House. 2005. Freedom in the World 2005: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties.
Freedom House. 2006. Freedom in the World 2006: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties.
Freedom House Press Release. 2004. Russia Downgraded to ‘Not Free.’.
Freston Paul. 2001. Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Freston Paul, Editor. 2007. Evangelicals and Democracy in Latin America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Gause III F. Gregory. 2005. “Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?” Foreign Affairs 84 (September/October): 62– 76.Google Scholar
Geddes Barbara. 1999. “What Do We Know About Democratization After Twenty Years?” Annual Review of Political Science 2 (June): 115– 44.Google Scholar
George Alexander. 1979. “Case Studies and Theory Development: The Method of Structured, Focused Comparisons.” In Diplomacy: New Approaches in History, Theory and Policy, ed. Paul Gordon Lauren. New York: Free Press.
Gifford Paul. 1995. The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Gill Anthony. 1998. Rendering Unto Caesar. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Grim Brian J., and Roger Finke. 2006. “International Religion Indexes: Government Regulation, Government Favoritism, and Social Regulation of Religion.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 2 (1): 3– 40.Google Scholar
Gurr Ted Robert. 2000. People Versus States: Minorities At Risk in the New Century. U.S. Institute of Peace: Washington, DC.
Hansen Thomas Blom. 1999. The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hashmi Sohail. 1998. “Islamic Ethics in International Society.” In International Society: Diverse Ethical Perspectives, ed. David R. Mapel and Terry Nardin. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hastings Adrian. 1997. The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hefner Robert. 2000. Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hehir J. Bryan. 2005. “The Roman Catholic Church and World Order Issues: Ideas, Structures, and Relationships.” Report prepared for the Religion in Global Politics project, Harvard University.
Hoffman Bruce. 1998. Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press.
Hunter Preston. 2007. “Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents.” http://www.adherents.com/Religions By_Adherents.html (June 13, 2007).
Hunter Shireen. 2001. “Religion, Politics, and Security in Central Asia.” SAIS Review 21 (Summer/Fall): 65– 89.Google Scholar
Huntington Samuel P. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Jaffrelot Christophe. 1993. The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India. New York: Columbia University Press.
Juergensmeyer Mark. 1993. The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Juergensmeyer Mark. 2003. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. 3rd ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Kalyvas Stathis. 2000. “Rendering unto Caesar: The Catholic Church and the State in Latin America.” American Political Science Review 94 (March): 213– 14.Google Scholar
Kalyvas Stathis. 1996. The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Karatnycky Adrian. 2002. “Muslim Countries and the Democracy Gap.” Journal of Democracy 13 (Janaury): 99– 112.Google Scholar
Karatnycky Adrian. 2005. Civic Power and Electoral Politics, Freedom House.
Keck Margaret, and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Kedourie Elie. 1992. Politics in the Middle East. London, UK: Frank Cass.
Kellogg Michael. 2001. “Putting Old Wine Into New Bottles: The East German Protestant Church's Desire to Reform State Socialism.” Journal of Church and State 43 (Autumn): 747– 72.Google Scholar
Kitagawa Joseph. 1980. “Buddhism and Social Change: An Historical Perspective.” In Buddhist Studies in Honor of Walpola Rahula. London, UK: Gordon Frazer.
Klaiber Jeffrey. 1998. The Church, Dictatorship, and Democracy in Latin America. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Krasner Stephen D. 1993. “Westphalia and All That.” In Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change, ed. Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Kuzio Taras, and Andrew Wilson. 1994. Ukraine: Perestroika to Independence. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.
Lapidus Ira. 1975. “The Separation of State and Religion in the Development of Early Islamic Society.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 6 (October): 363– 85.Google Scholar
Legg Keith, and John Roberts. 1997. Modern Greece: A Civilization on the Periphery. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Lewis Bernard. 1996. “Islam and Liberal Democracy: A Historical Overview.” Journal of Democracy 7 (April): 52– 63.Google Scholar
Lincoln Bruce. 2003. Holy Terrors: Thinking About Religion After September 11th. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Little David. 2005. “Protestant Christianity and the Problems of World Order.” Report prepared for the Religion in Global Politics project, Harvard University.
Lustick Ian S. 1996. “History, Historiography, and Political Science: Multiple Historical Records and the Problem of Selection Bias.” The American Political Science Review 90 (September): 605– 18.Google Scholar
Madan T. N., and Mark Juergensmeyer. 2005. “Notes on the Concept of ‘World Order’ in the Hindu Tradition and is Relevance to Foreign Relations.” Report prepared for the Religion in Global Politics project, Harvard University.
Mainwaring Scott. 1986. The Catholic Church and Politics in Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Mainwaring Scott, and Alexander Wilde. 1989. “The Progressive Church in Latin America: An Interpretation.” In The Progressive Church in Latin America, ed. Scott Mainwaring and Alexander Wilde. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Malley Robert. 1996. The Call From Algeria. Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Turn To Islam. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Manuel Paul Christopher. 2002. “Religion and Politics in Iberia: Clericalism, Anti-Clericalism, and Democratization in Portugal and Spain.” In Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective: The One, the Few, and the Many, ed. Ted Gerard Jelen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Martin David. 1978. A General Theory of Secularization. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
Midlarsky Magnus. 1998. “Democracy and Islam: Implications for Civilizational Conflict and the Democratic Peace.” International Studies Quarterly 42 (September): 485– 511.Google Scholar
Mojzes Paul. 1992. Religious Liberty in Eastern Europe and the USSR: Before and After the Great Transformation. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs.
Monshipouri Mahmood, and John W. Arnold. 1996. “The Christians in Socialism—and After: The Church in East Germany.” Journal of Church and State 38 (Autumn): 751– 73.Google Scholar
Nasr S. V. R. 1995. “Democracy and Islamic Revivalism.” Political Science Quarterly 110 (Summer): 261– 85.Google Scholar
Osiander Andreas. 2001. “Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth.” International Organizations 55 (June): 251– 87.Google Scholar
Pape Robert. 2003. “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.” American Political Science Review 97 (August): 343– 61.Google Scholar
Payne Stanley G. 1984. Spanish Catholicism: A Historical Overview. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Pew Global Attitudes Study. 2002.
Philpott Daniel. 2001. Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Philpott Daniel. 2004. “The Catholic Wave.” Journal of Democracy 15 (April): 32– 46.Google Scholar
Philpott Daniel, and Timothy Samuel Shah. 2006. “Faith, Freedom, and Federation: The Role of Religious Ideas and Institutions in European Political Convergence.” In Religion in an Expanding Europe, ed. Timothy A. Byrnes and Peter J. Katzenstein. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Phiri Isaac. 2001. Proclaiming Political Pluralism: Churches and Political Transitions in Africa. London, UK: Praeger.
Pierson Paul, and Theda Skocpol. 2002. “Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science.” In Political Science: The State of the Discipline, ed. Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner. New York: Norton.
Pipes Daniel. 2002. In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Queen Christopher. 2005. “Buddhism and World Order.” Report prepared for the Religion in Global Politics project, Harvard University.
Ramet Sabrina P. 1998. Nihil Obstat: Religion, Politics, and Social Change in East-Central Europe and Russia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Ranstorp Magnus. 1996. “Terrorism in the Name of Religion. Journal of International Affairs 50 (Summer): 41– 60.Google Scholar
Rapaport David C. 1984. “Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions.” American Political Science Review 78 (September): 658– 77.Google Scholar
Rittner Carol, John K. Roth, and Wendy Whitworth, eds. 2004. Genocide in Rwanda: Complicity of the Churches? St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.
Roy Olivier. 1993. “Afghanistan: An Islamic War of Resistance.” In Fundamentalisms and the State, ed. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Rudolph Susanne Hoeber. 1997. “Introduction: Religion, States, and Transnational Civil Society.” In Transnational Religion and Fading States, ed. Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and James Piscatori. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Sachedina Abdulaziz Abdulhussein. 2001. The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sells Michael A. 1996. The Bridge Betrayed: Religions and Genocide in Bosnia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Sigmund Paul. ed. 1999. Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Sikand Yoginder. 2004. “Kashmir: From National Liberation to Islamist Jihad?” In Muslims in India Since 1947. London, UK: Routledge.
Spruyt Hendrik. 1994. The Sovereign State and Its Competitors. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Stark Rodney. 1999. “Secularization, R.I.P.” Sociology of Religion 60 (Fall): 249– 74.Google Scholar
Stepan Alfred. 2001. “The World's Religious Systems and Democracy: Crafting the “Twin Tolerations.” In Arguing Comparative Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Stern Jessica. 2003. Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. New York, NY: Harper Collins.
Swearer Donald K. 1995. The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Tambiah Stanley J. 1993. “Buddhism, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka.” In Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance, ed. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 589– 618.
Tilly Charles. 1992. Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1992. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
Toft Monica Duffy. 2006. “Religion, Civil War, and International Order,” BCSIA Discussion Paper, Discussion Paper 2006-03, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, July 2006.
Toft Monica Duffy. 2007. “Getting Religion? The Puzzling Case of Islam and Civil War” International Security 30 (Spring): 97– 131.Google Scholar
Ware Timothy. 1963. The Orthodox Church. London, UK: Penguin Books.
Weigel George. 1992. The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Weinberg Leonard, and William L. Eubank. 1998. “Terrorism and Democracy: What Recent Events Reveal.” Terrorism and Political Violence 10 (Spring): 108– 18.Google Scholar
Woodberry Robert D., and Timothy S. Shah. 2005. “The Pioneering Protestants.” In World Religions and Democracy, ed. Larry Diamond, Marc F. Plattner, and Philip J. Costopoulos. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Yavuz Hakan. 2003. Islamic Political Identity in Turkey. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Youngblood Robert L. 1990. Marcos Against the Church. Cornell University Press: Cornell University Press.
Yun-Shik Chang. 1998. “The Progressive Christian Church and Democracy in South Korea.” Journal of Church and State 40 (Spring): 437– 65.Google Scholar
Zakaria Fareed. 2004. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy At Home and Abroad. New York: Norton.
Zonis Marvin, and Daniel Brumberg. 1984. “Behind Beirut Terrorism.” The New York Times. October 8.
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.