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Christian Approaches to International Affairs PDF

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Christian Approaches to International Affairs This page intentionally left blank Christian Approaches to International Affairs Jodok Troy LecturerinPoliticalScience,UniversityofInnsbruck,Austria ©JodokTroy2012 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthis workinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2012by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-34876-3 ISBN 978-1-137-03003-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137030030 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 Contents PrefaceandAcknowledgements vii Part I ReligionintheInternationalRealm 1 Thepowerofthe‘legionsnotalwaysvisibleon parade’ 3 1.1 Realism,theEnglishSchool,andreligion 7 1.2 Outlineofthebook 17 1.3 Theambivalenceofreligion 19 2 Theresurgenceofreligioninglobalpolitics 27 2.1 Thesociologyofreligion 28 2.2 Religionandconflict 34 2.3 Religionand(un-)civilsociety 42 3 TheChristiancontext:religionasbeing 53 3.1 Religionandpower 55 3.2 MimesisandtheDecalogue 58 3.3 ThechallengeofapersonalGod 61 Part II TheoreticalImplications 4 Theunendingstruggle:insideandoutsidethebox 65 4.1 MacIntyre’snarrativetheory 72 4.2 Thenarrativelogicofsuicideterrorism 76 4.3 Constructivism 79 5 TheEnglishSchool:modesofsociety 86 5.1 ‘Frominternationaltoworldsociety’ 91 5.2 Pluralism,worldsocietyandreligion 96 5.3 Diversityandreligiousactors 100 6 Realism:overcomingevil 103 6.1 Evilandpessimismorvirtues? 106 6.2 Thekatéchonandthelesserevil 109 6.3 Religionand20th-centuryRealism 113 v vi Contents Part III Conclusion 7 Anothernotionofreligioninworldpolitics 123 7.1 Theorizingreligionandinternationalrelations 128 7.2 Threecasesforthebetter 130 7.3 Thinkingdifferentlyofreligioninglobalpolitics 139 Notes 145 References 182 Index 209 Preface and Acknowledgements I am convinced of the authenticity of the thesis of falsification presented by the Austrian philosopher of science Sir Karl R. Popper. It was when I searched for his tracks in Christchurch, New Zealand that I developed major ideas about the present study. At the same timeIamjustasconvincedthatmonotheism,especiallyChristianity, is a source of being, of being free, and the way of respecting the human being and life as it is. This, however, is a thesis which can hardlybefalsified.InknowingthatthereisoneGodwhochallenges humansinapersonalway,whoevenbecamehimselfahumanbeing, lies the real source of being and freedom at the same time. I am convinced that religion, at its best, is always peaceful, and thus can contribute much to peace on Earth, despite all the forces that do otherwise. Therefore, as I argue in this study, it is necessary to have a closer lookat religionin global politics,theoreticallyas wellas practically, withafocusthatdoesnotblindordeceiveusintoillusion.Indeed,we mustacknowledgesome‘disgustingdissonances’inhumanconduct, suchasthosetheSunobservesinJuraSoyfer’splayDerWeltuntergang oder Die Welt steht auf keinen Fall mehr lang1 (1936) about the solar system. Sometimes it seems that those ‘disgusting dissonances’ are causedbyreligion.Thisbecomesparticularlyobviouswhenweface, oncemoreandinanageoftenclaimedandassumedtobe‘secular’, so-calledreligiousconflicts.Inhisplay,Soyferwarnsofthedoomof the upcoming Second World War. Humankind is threatened by the endoftheworldahead,andallthatpeoplearedoingisstaggeringin stupidityandblindnesstowardtheendoftheworld.Soyferillustrates the state of human conduct. But in the end the Earth is saved once more because the comet, Konrad, dispatched to destroy the Earth, fallsinlovewithher.Soyfer’splayabouthumanincorrigibilityends withadeclarationoflovefortheEarthinthelyric: VollHungerundVollBrotistdieseErde,VollLebenundvollTod ist diese Erde, In Armut und in Reichtum grenzenlos. Gesegnet vii viii PrefaceandAcknowledgements und Verdammt ist diese Erde. Von Schönheit hell umflammt ist dieseErde,UndihreZukunftistherrlichundgroß.2 At its best, religion acknowledges this song’s statement. There is hunger but, at the same time, enough bread for all. There is death but, at the same time, life. First of all, one has to acknowledge and cometotermswiththoseexisting‘disgustingdissonances’inhuman and thus political conduct. At the same time, this Earth is the best we have. Therefore, taking religion seriously in international affairs canonlyresultinanoptimisticview,despitepessimisticassumptions abouthumannature. The empirical phenomenon of pluralization is slowly replacing the theoretical underpinning of secularization. Pluralism, however, assertsthatpeoplehavetherightofdifferentinterpretationsofplu- ralized truths. Pluralism, as a mere normative conception, acknowl- edges the existence of a moral horizon, shared by all human beings of good will – that is, so to say, the will to live. The scholar Martin Wight,apointofreferenceinthisstudy,arguedthatdomesticpoliti- caltheoryisa‘theoryofthegoodlife’.Thisisbecauseoftherelation, regulationandinterconnectednessofthestateandthecitizen.Inter- national theory on the other hand, however, is merely a ‘theory of survival’. Following Thomas Hobbes, one might, in any case, argue that ‘survival’ involves the greatest good and right: ‘the goodness of life as such, of being alive and enjoying life’ as Robert Jackson has outlined in his appraisal of Martin Wight. Even more: ‘If there werenobasisforthegoodlifeinsidestates,therewouldbenopoint in their survival.’ It is the ‘goodness of life as such’ which is per- hapsthemostfundamentalbasisofwhatseriousreligiousvaluesare about.Althoughthereareothers,suchassimpleacademiccuriosity, acknowledgingthatverytruthisthemotivationofthisstudy. Intermsofpoliticaltheory,thereareuniversalvalues,suchaslib- ertyandequality,thatdistinguishpluralismfromethicalrelativism. Some call for a need of a so-called ‘conflictual consensus’ (Chantal Mouffe): a consensus on the ethical–political values of freedom and equality of all, as well as of religious values; and a dissent over the interpretation of these values. The ‘holiness of life’, as Christianity holdsit,iscertainlynotamongthem. The present study has travelled a long and complicated journey. First of all it is a form of conclusion to my dissertation, which PrefaceandAcknowledgements ix I completed under a slightly different title in 2008. Some of the more specific chapters of the dissertation – the issues of the Roman CatholicChurchininternationalaffairs,faith-baseddiplomacy,and the sketch of Dag Hammarskjöld – had already been published elsewhere. What I present here is a mere theoretical framework of understandingreligionininternationalrelations.Or,toputitrather simply:toacknowledgereligioninthecontextofglobalpoliticswith aChristianlens,withoutclaimingtobeatheologicalstudy. Thereisalonglistofpeoplewhocontributedinsomeoranother waytothisstudy.FirstofallIamespeciallythankfultomydisserta- tionsupervisorFranzKernic.Heencouragedmetostudythissubject in more depth. Moreover, he accepted and continues to accept my opinionsandthoughts,andhelpedmetoorderthemmoresystemat- ically.ThesameistrueformysecondsupervisorWolfgangPalaver.He helpedmewiththestudy’stheologicalelements,andclearlypointed out other opinions and helpful hints along the way, and thankfully hestilldoesso. Furthermore I would like to thank Thomas Banchoff, Rebecca Glazier, Lucian Leustean, Daniel Philpott, Christoph Rohde, Alexander Stummvoll and Scott Thomas. They all read major parts of the manuscript and commented critically and in a very helpful manneratvariouspointsduringthewritingofthisbook.Iampartic- ularlyindebtedtoScottThomaswithwhomIbegananencouraging conversation about the topic of religion and international relations sometimeago,whichhasneverstoppedsince. I also would like to thank Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.anditscentresforPeaceandSecurityStudies,andtheBerkeley Center for Religion, Peace and International Affairs. In 2007 I was in Georgetown for a research visit and was deeply influenced by its intellectual,butalsohumanspirit.Igainedmuch,ifnotmost,ofmy inspirationfromthere.Ifoundawellspringof‘soft’intellectual,per- sonal,andhumaninspiration,aswellas‘hard’materialfacts,during myresearchandconservationsthere. In a similar way, although in a more ‘Protestant environment’, comparedtothe‘Catholic’oneinGeorgetown,Igainedmanyintel- lectual insights during my stay at Boston University’s Institute of Culture,ReligionandWorldAffairs(CURA)in2010.Iamparticularly indebted to Peter Berger of Boston University, a sociologist of reli- gion and fellow-countryman. My time and conversations at Boston

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