Faith Matters: Christianity, Islam, and Global Politics

Faith Matters: Christianity, Islam, and GlobalPolitics

REVIEW BY ANDREW CHESNUT

Department of History, University of Houston

The Sacred and Sovereign: Religion and International Politics. Edited by John D. Carlsonand Erik C. Owens. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003. 312 pp., $26.95(ISBN: 0-878-40908-4).

For students of religion and society, the overarching thesis of The Sacred and Sov-ereign is a familiar truism. Cognizant of the role that organized religion has playedin global politics over the past five centuries, many of us simply assume that theinternational political arena cannot be fully comprehended without considering itsembedded religious dimensions. However, Western academia is still heavily influ-enced by the now discredited secularization theory and by social scientists who wantnothing to do with religion, wishing it would disappear from the public realm if notfrom the private. In this conflicted milieu, John Carlson and Erik Owens’sThe Sacred and Sovereign seeks to challenge established wisdom about the relation-ship between religion and international politics. With contributions from an im-pressively eclectic group of scholars, this thought-provoking volume uses the timelyspringboards of the September 11 attacks, the US-led war in Afghanistan, and thegrowing conflict with Iraq to explore the complex relationship between interna-tional politics and religion in a number of recent conflicts and interventionsFsuchas Kosovo, Grenada, and Somalia.

The Sacred and Sovereign is neatly divided into three coherent parts. Despite itstitle, Part 1 (‘‘Religion and Armed Intervention’’) largely examines Christian per-spectives and traditions on the legitimacy of armed conflict, particularly for hu-manitarian purposes. Only in chapter five, by religious ethicist John Kelsay, does areligion other than Christianity (specifically, Islam) enter into the discussion. TheChristian-inspired just war ethic serves as the unifying thread for these five chap-ters. Three of the five contributors consider the US-led campaign in Kosovo in lightof the just war tradition. Particularly illuminating are chapters 4 and 5. In theformer, political philosopher Jean Bethke Elshtain returns to the writings of theforefather of the just war tradition (St. Augustine) in her critical appraisal of boththe Persian Gulf War and the Kosovo air campaign. In the latter chapter, Kelsaybroadens the discussion by considering Islamic traditions on the legitimacy ofarmed conflict.

Part 2 (‘‘Human Rights, Political Authority, and Religious Commitment’’) movesbeyond the matter of armed intervention to examine the intersection of state sov-ereignty, religious institutions and traditions, and human rights. Nuanced discus-sions of the relations between international institutions and religious belief makethis section the most illuminating in the book. In an especially trenchant analysis(chapter 9), religious ethicist Carlson employs the tools of moral anthropology tocritique the extradition of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic to aUnited Nations war crimes tribunal. Carlson argues that a national trial on Yugo-slavian soil would have better served the cause of justice. Such a trial would haveforced the Yugoslavian people to grapple with their own responsibility in the crimesagainst humanity that were perpetrated by their government.

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Diverging from the first two sections, which assume the centrality of state sov-ereignty, Part 3 (‘‘Sovereignty and Its Critics’’) dismisses its importance. For ex-ample, in chapter 10, Robert Gallucci, former US Assistant Secretary of State forpolitical-military affairs and Dean of the Walsh School of Foreign Service atGeorgetown University, poignantly describes how state sovereignty was a nonissuein the decision-making process that led to several recent US interventions, such asGrenada and Somalia. Although Gallucci’s candor is appreciated, his apologetictreatise on behalf of US gunboat diplomacy, combined with the other contributors’refusal to consider the United States as a sponsor and even perpetrator of stateterrorism, diminishes the impact of his argument. The historical record of USintervention in Latin America, especially in Central America, reminds us that bel-licose hegemonic powers can terrorize weaker states and their vulnerable popu-lations. A more comprehensive view of terrorism and its multiple sources wouldhave strengthened the discussion.

The September 11 attacks, the Iraq War, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinianconflict have dramatically demonstrated the importance of religion in the inter-national political arena. Carlson and Owens, along with their contributing authors,have made a significant contribution to advancing our understanding of the nexusbetween international politics and religious beliefs and institutions. The Sacredand Sovereign should generate healthy debate among students of religion andinternational politics. Hopefully, it will also convince skeptical readers of the greatimportance of Islam and Christianity and their attendant belief systems andinstitutions on the stage of world politics.

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