Handbook on Religion and International Relations

This comprehensive Handbook examines relationships between religion and international relations, mainly focusing on several world religions - Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. Providing a timely update on this understudied topic, it evaluates how this complex relationship has evolved over the last four decades, looking at a variety of political contexts, regions and countries.Original chapters analyse how varying religions shape people’s attitudes towards the organisation and operations of political systems worldwide. As well as investigating core issues and topics such as religion, foreign policy, terrorism and international security, the Handbook also provides clarity on topical and controversial issues such as Islamist extremism, Hindu nationalism and Christian civilisationism. Top international contributors offer further analysis via important case studies of religion and international relations across the globe.Providing crucial information, this Handbook will be an excellent resource for higher-level students and researchers of religious studies, international relations and politics, as well as policy makers and professionals from a variety of backgrounds and orientations.

‘Notwithstanding, this Handbook provides a very informative treatment of relevant concepts, including but not limited to such notions as the advent of “God’s century” (187), the “global God divide” (200), “track two peace negotiations” (42, 201),“scriptualisation of Islam” (163), “sharia reservations” (218) with regard to freedom of religion and belief and the pro-life and pro-choice debates. Case studies of Turkey and India also prove to be very insightful, particularly from a historical viewpoint. This volume also presents excellent indexing of the most salient themes in the study of political actors’ approaches towards faith in global politics, primarily in Western contexts. This includes some insightful analysis of related topics in the fields of security, gender, environment, immigration, international development and foreign policy, among others.’, ‘This is a highly useful account of the impact of religion on international relations, and perhaps an important counterweight to both its absence in much of the literature, and, conversely, the breathless commentary that can suggest inevitable conflict between different belief structures.’, ‘The global rise of strident new forms of politicized religion in international relations cries out for a single volume that provides a timely and authoritative overview. This book covers it all - the core issues, the key debates, and the arresting case studies - relating to every religious tradition in all sectors of the world. It is a handbook that will be essential to policymakers and scholars and to anyone concerned about the persistent role of faith in the global politics of the 21st century.‘

Edited by Jeffrey Haynes, Emeritus Professor of Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK