Politics in a Religious World: Building a Religiously Informed U.S. Foreign Policy

Eric Patterson

sept 2011 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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Politics in a Religious World examines why US diplomacy often misunderstands, if not ignores, the role of religion in international conflicts.

After the Cold War, it became evident that religion was a key factor in many conflicts, including Bosnia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan. However, the US failed to correctly appreciate this role, for example predicting the failure of the Iranian theocrats in 1979. Today, most of the security and foreign relations challenges faced by the US are infused with religious factors, from its relations with Iran to the Iraq war and jihadist terrorists. Religion, however, can also play a transnational role when it comes to human rights, conflict resolution, and political mobilization.

Written by an expert in the field, the book analyzes why the US deliberately avoids the religious dimension of international affairs and proposes a comprehensive approach to a religiously literate US foreign policy. Politics in a Religious World addresses a needed area and will appeal to anyone studying US foreign policy as well as the interaction of religion and international affairs.

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Eric Patterson is Associate Director, Berkley Center for Religion and World Affairs and Visiting Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University, USA. Patterson also served as a White House Fellow, US Office of Personnel management. He is the co-author with Major John Gallager of Debating the War of Ideas (2009).