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Religion in International Relations Theory

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 Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education
Vol. 16, Issue No. 2, February-2019, ISSN 2230-7540

Religion in International Relations Theory

Aabid Majeed Sheikh1* Sayed Hanan Yusofi2

1
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of International Relations, Selçuk, University, Konya, Turkey
2
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of International Relations, Selçuk, University, Konya, Turkey

Abstract – Religion has been an important factor in interstate relations during the ancient civilizations.
Friendship, hostility, war and peace between states were always determined by religious values. After
the Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, nation-states came into existence, religion was subjected to
international relations and was supposed to be removed from internal state politics. With the Peace
Treaties of Westphalia, which led to the foundation of nation-states, and international politics, these
nation states have moved towards secularism. Even though religion has been exasperated to be
theoretically underdeveloped in historical developments, it has always played an important role in
international relations in practice. Therefore, to reveal the place and influence of religion in international
relations or global politics, it is necessary to talk about the relation of religion and secularism. Religion
has begun to manifest itself in international politics with the terrorist acts that started in the last epoch of
the Cold War and the transboundary effect of terror. After the events of September 11, 2001, religion has
attracted the attention of international relations scholars and statesmen. The perceptions of religion in
international relations after 2001 and the academic studies discussed in this field mostly refer to religion
as an ideology. The study of the ideologies of terrorist organizations such as the Taliban, ISIS, and Al-
Qaeda, as if it had dealt with the religion of Islam, is nothing less than a contempt for Islamism, which is
reductionism, against the idea of millions of people who believe in religion. This disdain applies to other
religions too. Still, religion has no place in the theory of international relations. It is very difficult to
address religion within the framework of current theories of international relations. Because religion and
the theories of international relations are in contradiction. In order to deal with the theories of religion in
the context of international relations, a scientific revolution is required in the theories of this discipline
as expressed by Thomas Kuhn.

Key Words: Religion, International Relations, Terrorist Organizations, Realism, Liberalism, Structuralism,
Marxism.

-----------------------------------X----------------------------------

INTRODUCTION after the Westphalia agreements tried to exclude

religion in both theory and practice. Even though
Religion has a very long history as the history of religion has shown its importance in practice in
mankind. In this respect, when we look at the history interstate relations, it has been excluded from the
of mankind, none of the civilizations that have been theory. It was observed that religion started to
living or have lost their existence has not been show itself practically in the international relations
irreligious. The Greeks, the ancient Egyptians, the towards the end of the cold war, especially after the
Chinese, the Indians, and the civilization of events of September 11. Religion has been
Mesopotamia, the Hittites, the Göktürks, the Mongols misconstrued in the theory of international relations
and other ancient civilizations were all followers of on the basis of the ideology of terrorist
religion. As a result of the scientific studies on organizations. For this, the ideology of terrorists is
religions, it has been observed that there is no belief not religion, religion should not be evaluated in this
in the societies of human history. Primitive religions, way. In this sense, ideology is a human product
polytheistic religions, monotheistic or heavenly and religion is a divine phenomenon. Since religion
religions have shown the diversity of religions that has contradictions and differences with
human beings believed. international relations theories, it has been very
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difficult to fit these theories in religious theories of

Religion has played a leading role in promoting international relations. Given the current theories of
relations, states of war, peace, friendship and enmity international relations, religion is not included in
between states before the peace agreements of these theories, despite the important role it plays in
Westphalia. The international relations that emerged the history of mankind in individual, social, political
relations and interstate relations. To see and

Aabid Majeed Sheikh1* Sayed Hanan Yusofi2

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 Religion in International Relations Theory

evaluate international relations as a secular order not in domestic politics, it succeeded in pushing the
and system is perhaps the basis of this thought, but religion into the foreign policy (Waltz, 1959).
whether or not an irreligious international relations
system is possible is kept free of controversy. Given In the 17th and 18th centuries, the emergence of the
the current international relations order global, bourgeoisie, industrialization, enlightenment, and the
regional and national policies and polarizations, the French revolution, as well as religion, were pushed
central role of religion in these polarizations is into domestic politics and began to pass from the
unacceptable. kingdom and the imperial families to the people. In
the 19th century, religion ended the process of being
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF completely free from politics in European states
RELATIONS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL (Volf, 2010). Their philosophical basis lies in the
RELATIONS AND RELIGION ideas of secularism and positivism. Positivists and
scientists with secular thinking decided to separate
Religion has an ancient history as extensive as the the principles of religion from politics and state
human history. The state is an institution that has governance, as they perceived religion as a threat.
existed since the primitive life of people in order to According to them, religion was the source of all
regulate relations between people. Relations wars. Before these historical developments, people
between religion and the state have been in close acted in denomination and religion based in family,
association since the emergence of both. Because of society and politics, and industrialization and
the emergence of international relations as a urbanization and modernization led people to think
discipline in Europe, historically, relations between in the light of these values. This process created
religion and this discipline are handled according to the formation of rationalism. This accelerated the
the historical background of the Western world. State establishment of secular states as an indication
was dominated by religion before the Peace that religion lost its place in politics and state affaris
Agreements of Westphalia. Religion was the most (Rapoport, 1984).
influential factor in determining the internal affairs
and interstate relations of states in the Middle Ages. The distance of religion from international relations
Even the sovereigns and states took their legitimacy continued at the beginning of the 20th century and
from religion (Shimko, 1992). In this period, the rulers during the World War I, where international
saw themselves as God's deputy (Thomas, 2001). relations became a discipline, and during the World
The religious reform movement, which began under War II, when it began to develope. This is not the
the leadership of Martin Luther in the 16th century, distance of religion from politics in the whole world,
began to shake the church and the Pope's but rather refers to the distance from politics in the
unquestionable power, which led to the Western world. In the Middle East and the Islamic
discontinuation of the relationship between religion Geography, the Islamic State was still influential on
and politics and the removal of religion from politics the axis of the West where Christianity had lost
(Volf, 2010). importance. After the Second World War, the bi-
polarity system and the period of the cold war have
After the sectarian and religious wars that emerged shown the effectiveness of religion in practice. In
in Europe, the state of Westphalia was replaced by 1979, as a result of the Islamic revolution of Iran, a
the Westphaliain order and religion was removed regime based on Islamic values emerged. Again in
from all areas. In addition, mind and man have the same year after the invasion of Afghanistan by
replaced God and religion after Westphalia. In short, the USSR, the Jihad movements in the country and
the international order of relations is based on the military, financial aid from the Islamic world to
rationalism, experimentation and secular values. In the Mujahideen, and the Jihadis against the
this order, religion has lost its influence in relations invasion of the USSR alongside the Mujahideen of
between states (Thomas, 2001). The concept of Afghanistan as well as from the different countries
sovereignty has been institutionalized by the showed that the religion was not successful
agreements of Westphalia. The boundaries of the (Rashid, 2003). After the First World War, secular
states were drawn and the sovereignty was given to regimes began to prevail in Islamic states, but
the states again, as well as the authority to act within Islam was not ineffective as Christianity in Europe
their borders. In all of these circumstances, the right became ineffective. Islamic political and spiritual
to intervene in religion and church has been leaders of the secular values of the Ottoman
terminated. The sovereignty and legitimacy that had Empire over the world appeared appropriate and
previously been held by church and religion were the Republic of Turkey tried to move away from
now in the hands of the nation-states. From this point religion to politics. In Egypt, in 1950 to 1960, the
of view, jurists, political scientists and statesmen movement of the Ikhwan-Muslim was banned by
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accept the agreements of Westphalia signed in 1648 the secular government, and its activities continued
as the beginning of the present order that regulates in secret (Lincoln, 2003). The secularism that has
the relations between the modern nation-state and been progressing and spreading began to face
modern states. Although the order of Westphalia was obstacles in the 1960s. These barriers have
deepened with the separation and death of the
founders and defenders of the secular regimes. In

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 Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education
Vol. 16, Issue No. 2, February-2019, ISSN 2230-7540

1964, after the death of the Indian leader Jawahar international states only from the politics perspective.
Lal Nehru, religious politics began to be influential in Looking at the theoretical roots of secularism, the
the world's largest democracy. In Indonesia in 1965, ideas of Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, Marx and Machiavelli
Sukanro was overthrown by a coup and the can be seen. For example, in the late 19th century,
Indonesian Communist Party was shut down. After Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that God died. Nietzsche
that, religious politics began to be carried out in this asserted that the religion and the human beings were
country. In 1967, the defeat of Jamal Nasir against in the place of religion and God. According to him, no
Israel had made Saudi Arabia active in the Arab and longer will God intervene in any field of human life.
Islamic states, and the Organization of the Islamic Human God must live in place using his own mind
Conference was established with the initiative of (Asad, 1993).
Saudi King Faisal. After that, Saudi Arabia started to
export Wahhabi-Salafi thought to the world, Again, the relevance of religion to global politics in
especially to Muslim states (Lincoln, 2003). the secular system implemented due to the capitalist
system due to immorality and secular values formed
The origin of the Arab-Israel wars and the present by international organizations and states caused by
day conditions in plestenian territory are undoubtly the failure to prevent wars (Mearsheimer, 2001).
because of religious beliefs. The state of Israel, Another reason is that in democratic systems,
supported by Western states, from time to time in societies have to express their religious beliefs
these wars, also supports religion. The main reason freely and to express their demands for religious
for the resistance of the Palestinian people against freedom and to build religious organizations in
Israel since its foundation is religion. Again, the order to live their beliefs. Another reason for the
reactions to the war between Israel and Palestine are influence of religion in international relations was
also related to religious affiliation. According to some migration. Migration has created new religions and
states in the international arena, Palestinians are sects in the Western world. The religion which is
terrorists, while for some, Israel is a terrorist state. effective in domestic politics has also shown its
Those who claim that Israel is a terrorist state are effect in international politics (Snyder, 2011).
those who don‟t see Palestine as a terrorist Another reason why religion is effective in
organization, according to their religious affiliation, international politics is globalization. Globalization
and this claim is based on their religious affiliation and technological developments have made it
(Rapoport, 1984). possible for different religious groups to be aware
of each other, to be in solidarity and to be in
Again during this period, the religious organizations, contact (Philpott, 2007).
which were controlled by the secular regimes, began
to enter the political scene again and become active. While the international relations system has an
The Roman Catholic Church won the role in the reign anti-religious and secular nature, religion has
of the second Pope John Paul. Although the influenced inter-human relations, societies and
ideologies of religion and terrorist organizations were inter-state relations throughout history. Because
separate, the events of 11th September 2001 were religion will be one of the factors causing the
subject to religion. The bloody and fearful event by formation of international relations system. The
the al-Qaeda terrorist organization has shown Islam peace agreements of Westphalia were signed at
as a cruel religion in the Western world and has the end of the 30-year war between Catholic and
directed the states of the world to be opposed to Protestantism. Religion was the basis of previous
these organizations in common. The former US international relations. The friendship and enmity
president Bush, took the vote of 4 million religious between states was determined according to the
people in Central American States, promising to orders of religion, and religion was also influenced
activate religious groups in their second presidential by peace and war (Philpott, 2007). Although the
election campaign. It shows the role of Jewish states and the international relations system are
religion in the foreign policy of the country whose secular today, it is known that most of the
numbers varry between 4 and 5 million in America polarizations and blockings are practiced according
(Rapoport, 1984). The events of September 11, to religious affiliation. Disputes, conflicts and
terrorist organizations in Africa, terrorist attacks by polarizations among civilizations all have religious
organizations such as the unrestrained acts of dimensions.
terrorism as well as the failure of some secular
regimes, liberal politics adversely affected people The People's Republic of China, which banned
ethically, the policies implemented within the context religion after World War II, continued to open
of capitalism and secular regimes, especially the Confucianism branches after 2004. The aim of the
secular international relations system and the Confucianism established and managed by the
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incredible developments in communication thanks to Chinese state is to improve the friendly relations
the world as a village thanks to reasons such as between China and other states and to spread
religion has created the opportunity to shape the Chinese language and culture. In other words, the
international relations. In spite of all this, religion is Confucian religion is used as a foreign policy tool
still theoretically not covered in any theory of this by the Chinese state (Appleby, 2000). Christians in
discipline. It is not right to connect religion to South Korea and the United States, especially the

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 Religion in International Relations Theory

North Korean Immigration Relief Commission, reason why religion is not included in the studies in
proposed the liberation of Christians in North Korea this discipline. The lack of knowledge of the religious
as the greatest goal of world Christians (Snyder, men in the modern sciences, especially in the
2011). Religious factors play an important role in international relations, has caused the international
disputes between Japan, North Korea, South Korea relations scholars to ignore religion as well as it has
and China. The role of Christian missionaries in caused a distance between religion and international
South Korea's independence has been important. relations. Religion was ignored by the thinkers of
The missionaries were active in order for the people international relations, and international relations
to stand against the Japanese (Snyder, 2011). theories were ignored by the clergy (Kubalkova,
2000).
THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN THEORIES OF
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS The most important factor that maintains that religion
is not involved in international relations and the
It is possible to reclaim the history of international development of international relations is an irreligious
relations as far back as the ancient civilizations of system is the foundation of secularism. At the heart
ancient Greek and Egypt, and to continue with the of the main theories of the international relations
Middle Ages, Renaissance and Enlightenment. discipline is an atheistic world. The main theories of
However, in the modern sense, international discipline such as Realism, Liberalism and Marxism
relations are the product of the Westphalia see religion as a phenomenon that concerns ancient
agreements which took place in the 17th century and times and is not working today (Norris & Inglehart,
caused the emergence of nation-states. International 2004) To explain this claim, it is not necessary to
relations became a branch of science after the First discuss some of the theories of international
World War (Fox & Sandler, 2004) The classical relations in relation to religion. Machiavelli, one of
sources and modern theories of this discipline the pioneers of the theory of realism, Hobbes, and
followed a secular order because international many of them accept the state as an entity
relations were the result of a secular thought. independent of the influence of church and religion.
Liberalism, Realism, Marxism and different versions Machiavelli leveled the sovereignty of the
which do not include how religion affects sovereigns, not to adhere to morality and religion
international relations and how important it is. It is (Machiavell, 2008).Hobbes argued that it would be
necessary to examine the place of religion in the of great benefit to the state to keep the church
above mentioned theories in order to reveal and away from the state. Separating religion from
discuss this claim. For example, in the works of politics means that religion is not effective in
thinkers such as Kenneth Waltz, an important figure international relations. Machiavelli and Hobbes did
in realism, Michael Duel and Robert Koehane, the it. According to the most accepted realist theory of
pioneers of liberalism, and Alexsender Wendt, one of international relations theories, the state and their
the pioneers of the structuralism, religion did not play mutual relations take place at the center of
an important role (Snyder, 2011). The secular international relations. Realists have not been
international order is based on the generalization of involved in assessing religion as a trivial
the decision on Christianity to all religions. Political phenomenon while dealing with international
scientists and international theorists, who perceived relations (Thomas, 2005). Realists acknowledge
the removal of Christianity from politics as the security as an important element in international
removal of all religions from politics, kept them away relations. Security is only provided by power.
from the work of all religions. To accept religion as States will not be subjected to the attack of the
the cause of war is nothing but a misunderstanding. counter-state as long as they have power in their
In Islam, what is essential is peace. Islam chooses hands. The art of understanding power in the first
the war as the last way. One proof of religion as a place is the military power and in the second place
source of wars is the sectarian wars in the Christian is the order to take power. The realists accept the
world. However, there are big differences between politics of religion as deceptive or condemned to
Islam and Christianity, especially in the field of defeat (Philpott, 2000).
government and politics (Kokoslakis, 1985).
Liberalism is the basis of freedom. According to the
Apart from secularism and modernism, there are liberals, religion restricts freedom. Again, according
other reasons for the removal of religion from to them, religion prevents modernization
international relations. First of all, the security of the movements and development. There is no religion
Westphalian system about religion and the necessity in the work of the pioneers of the liberal theory.
of the removal of religion from international relations. Acoording to Liberals, religion restricts freedom
This system was a religious security threat. Religion and they also see religion as the source of violence
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was accepted as the cause of war and insecurity in (Posen, 1993).Michelle Duel, a prominent figure in
Westphalia. For this reason, religion did not take the liberal movement, does not speak of religion in
place in the theories of international relations his writings on international peace and liberalism.
(Kubalkova, 2000). The fact that scholars of When viewed as a secular order to liberalism, it
international relations are not aware of religion and would not be meaningful to exclude religion from
have inadequate knowledge about religion is another this theory. However, when liberalism is considered

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 Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education
Vol. 16, Issue No. 2, February-2019, ISSN 2230-7540

as a product of Protestantism movements, it will be relations is the state. Again, a contradiction is the
revealed that the effect of religion is ignored in difference of the logic and power between realism
liberalism consciously and unjustly. According to and religion. Liberalism and religion are separated
Synder, Liberalism emerged from Protestantism. from one another by holiness and beneficiary logic.
The reason why liberals do not include religion in For this reason, the thinkers of liberalism did not
their theories is that in a modern and liberal world, mention the effect of religion on international
religion is to be retreated. But nowadays, the role of relations. The conflict of religion with the structuralist
religion in global politics has shown that this claim is approach is that all social and cultural structures are
not true (Snyder, 2011). Robert Koehane, one of the treated with a secular approach. But it is forgotten by
pioneers of neoliberalism, mentions the role of other the structuralist that religion plays an important role
institutions in interstate relations in his book in the formation of all social structures (Snyder,
Hegemony, while he does not mention religion. 2011).
Although some international organizations, such as
the International Red Cross, are of religious origin, In the same book, according to Timothy Samuel
there is no religion in corporate liberalism (Snyder, Shah and Daniel Philpott, the most important
2011). Although religion is not considered important reason why international religious organizations or
in liberal theory and secular identity is not a priority, religion cannot enter into international relations
religion can contribute to the liberal theory. theories is that religion and religious organizations
are not aware of the boundaries, and are
In the theories of Marxism, one of the theories of differentiated from other international and national
international relations, religion is not included. organizations. ISIS Organizations such as Al
Historical materialism, in keeping with Marx, Qaeda, Catholic and Protestant churches, World
excluded religion from its work as non-realistic Council of Churches and International Council of
knowledge. Marxists refer to the opium of religious Hindus do not know any boundaries. Their aim is to
societies because it is used to find solace in the establish the caliphate throughout the world and to
struggle against the persecution of the employers help all Christians and Hindus in the world.
and powerful people, arguing that religion is not According to Shah and Philpott, theoretical theories
scientific, and it limits the combat mentality state such as Thomas Kuhn's paradigm (a set of values)
(Appleby, 2000). According to them, the important are needed in these theories to place religion in
element in politics or international relations are the international theories. They are convinced that
material elements. One of the most prominent figures religion is difficult to fit in the existing theories of
of Marxist theory, Antonio Gramsci regards religion, international relations (Philpott, 2000).
as to exploit the workers and to prevent their
revolutionary movements. Because of these theories, According to Snyder, although religion has the
Communism and Marxism were the defenders and ability to be included in each of the theories in
watchdogs of the idea of the USSR (Asad, 1993). international relations, it is not mentioned by
theorists of this discipline. Alexander Wendt, one of
Although the theories of international relations can the important names of structuralist thought, did not
be considered within the scope of structuralism as a include religion and sect in any part of his Theory
religious value, the pioneers of structuralist theory of International Politics. Wendt considers the
have avoided mentioning the effect of religion on principles of mutual dependence, common fate,
international relations. In this approach, the similarity and mutual respect as variables that can
ideologies of fundamentalist religious groups and change international anarchy. The cultural affinity
terrorist organizations are considered as religion. It is and commitment of societies has led to the
evident that religion is treated as an ideology and it is formation of international religious organizations
not correct to consider fundamentalist and terrorist and unity such as Protestantism. The feeling of
organizations as a religious thought (Laustsen, common destiny will also help to unite the common
Carsten & Waever, 2008). As the religious unification of communities and common threats.
organization of the ideological organizations such as Similarity may also arise as religious similarity. And
the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and their ideology mutual respect can be the respect that religions
as religion, it will bring about conflicts between offer. Nevertheless, in Wendt's book, none of the
religions and civilizations in the world as proposed by variable factors mentioned above have been
Samuel Hantington. Religion will create a competitive evaluated in terms of religion or sect. According to
and confrontational environment rather than a Snyder, when religion is added to the structuralist
unifying ( Huntington, 1993). approach, it will make the approach more powerful
and rich (Snyder, 2011). According to Snyder, the
Why religion is not included in international relations inclusion of religion in these theories of
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theories? Jack Snyder from Columbia University, international relations will help these theories to be
gives the following answer. According to him, there is powerful and correct. For this reason, international
a difference and contrast between the theories of relations should take into account the rebirth of
religion and international relations. For instance, the religion, the development of politics and
difference of the realism theory of religion is that international relations thinkers. The most important
religion is global and the subject of international benefit of the rise of religion to this area is the

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 Religion in International Relations Theory

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Corresponding Author

Aabid Majeed Sheikh*

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of International

Relations, Selçuk, University, Konya, Turkey

aabidamu7@outlook.com
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Aabid Majeed Sheikh1* Sayed Hanan Yusofi2

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