Rada Cristina Irimie - Babeș-Bolyai University

ROMANIAN REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, VI, 1, 2014

THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY. A GENERAL OVERVIEW ON THE

INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENON

Rada Cristina Irimie∗ Abstract: The present article shall be discussing the impact that religion as a topic of debate had on the development of IR Theory. Due to the fact that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have raised fear among members of the international community on account of the fact that terrorism has been fuelled by Islamic fundamentalism, researchers have taken into consideration the need to further analyse religion as a factor that could generate violence. Even though religion has been a constant presence within the state, from the beginnings of Christianity to the present day, its strength in transforming the state has been underestimated. As a result, the article shall evaluate the impact that religion has been having on the evolution of states on the one hand, and the degree to which it has been theorized enough to be able to explain the appearance of such phenomena, as Islamic fundamentalism, extremism and religiously‐fuelled terrorism. Key words: religious conflict, Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, violence, God

I. Introduction Any preoccupation shown by researchers towards religion is

surprisingly recent – mainly starting in the middle of the 20th century, as religion has been relegated to a rather neglected area of history, despite the main role it had played in the shaping of current societies throughout time.

Religion can be a factor of stability or instability in an area/region or even on a global level. This instability refers mainly to the risks, threats and conflicts entailed by religious orientations throughout the international community. For most people, religion is a form of defining one’s

∗ Rada Cristina Irimie is Ph.D candidate at the Faculty of European Studies, Babeş‐Bolyai University, Cluj‐Napoca. Contact: [email protected]

Rada Cristina Irimie

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personality, but also their belonging to a specific community, indifferent of its location.

Apart from being a characteristic feature, religion has always been a rather powerful issue, often relegated to one side of history or another due to its strong involvement with politics. Politics and religion have evolved throughout time in a certain consistency. The monarch/king/queen was often and still is pictured as God’s envoy to Earth, to guide the unknowing flocks of people. The crusades have been political wars in the name of freeing the Holy Lands. Every new military intervention performed by a state/people was often justified to have been done in the name of God. As a result, political leaders have been difficult to separate from religion until the 20th century. Even now, it is common for political leaders to resort to religious rhetoric in order to support their policies with the very people they govern.

Throughout time, even the most religious societies, such as Turkey, Jordan and many of the Middle East countries etc., grew to be secular. Despite that, religion is omnipresent, which poses a great challenge to international relations on how to approach it.

In light of the growing secularism of the international community, it is an acknowledged fact that religion is playing a growing part in the evolution of this community. It remains however, to scholars to demonstrate to what extent is actually religion influencing the theoretical aspect of International Relations or not.

The aim of this article is to analyze, with specific emphasis on case studies, the overall impact and role that religion has on IR theory. We do not claim that the final product will be explicitly revealing on the very impact. However, the authors would most likely assess this impact with respect to the evolution of the contemporary society. In this regard, the present article will investigate the points of collision between religion and politics in the past century, especially at the beginning of the 21st century, and will draw on the conclusions from such analysis.

As far as the methodology is concerned, this article is aimed to be analytical, rather than critical. In this respect, we shall resort to comparative analysis of different case studies, as well as chronological analysis of relevant facts. In the present article, we shall refer more likely to qualitative

The Influence of Religion on International Relations Theory...

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analysis methods, as we are specifically interested in observing the impact the analysis of religion had on the general theory of International Relations.

Due to the fact that both religion and the international community are currently evolving, the goal of the present article is to reflect the many changes that occurred in the IR theory, so as to be able to highlight the impact religion has on the international community.

There have been many papers and books written with regard to the role that religion has on the evolution of the international community, especially after the terror attacks of 9/11. Since Islam is often mentioned when referring to the role of religion in International Relations, we shall use it as a case study for the present article. We shall also refer to the changing religious landscape of Romania as a case in point for the impact religion may have on state politics, which means that Romanian literature on the topic will also be used.

II. The role of religion in International Relations Theory To begin with, Samuel Huntington1 predicted in his bestseller book

– “The Clash of civilizations”, that the new type of confrontation of the 21st century shall be one between nations and groups of civilizations. One of the criteria defining a civilization is that of religion. If one is to paraphrase Huntington, the next century conflicts are to be fought between religions. And Huntington was a visionary scholar who predicted almost all the troubling events of the Middle East.

It is a fact that until the 9/11 few scholars chose to analyze the impact that religion had on the shaping of global politics, on the one hand, and the part it played in establishing a theoretical framework of analysis of the afore mentioned policy. After the 9/11 attacks, more and more scholars emphasized the role played by religion and its components ‐ secularism, extremism, fundamentalism, The conclusions reached in their short time spent on this investigation have pointed out to the tremendously disruptive effect that religion has on International Relations Theory, destabilizing most of the already known patterns, and leaving researchers confronted with the need to establish new patterns that should take into account this new dimension as well. Applying religion to International Relations Theory has been a profound challenge to scholars based on the absence of a clear 1Samuel Huntington, ”The Clash of Civilizations”, Foreign Affairs, 1992, p. 2.


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ground to interpret it, which meant that scholars and researchers had to resort to intermediate approaches. For instance, Morgenthau2 states that politics is ruled by a series of objective laws that originate in human nature. In this regard, a vast interpretation of human nature can engender religion. Moreover, these researchers3 prefer to mention religion as both a mental and neutral framework, and join it with political theologies, which means that states could employ it as an intervening variable, on a discretionary basis.

The various trends of International Relations Theory refer to religion differently. While neorealism does not accommodate religion easily, neoliberalism has the potential to become a platform for scholars interested in terrorist organizations and terrorists themselves. The same is valid for constructivism. Consequently, the present article, although investigating the role and impact that religion has been having on International Relations Theory, shall not issue specific conclusions on the matter. The authors’ aim has been, among others, to present the reader with a valuable resource presenting several tendencies of analysis that have been gaining more and more terrain on a scholarly level. Overall, the article is a review on how the topic of religion in International Relations Theory is analyzed, perceived and interpreted, taking into account religious evolutions throughout centuries and the cyclic effect of history.

In International Relations theory, religion needs to be seen and interpreted as a variable that can be easily tied to interests, especially state interests. The maximization of influence is the most desired objective of states. Influence is even more important than power, which leads the way for using religion as an intermediate variable.

Religion is often employed along with a set of political theologies (a set of ideas that religious bodies hold on legitimate political authority). That is why the state religion can be used as a tool to offer legitimacy, support or even ensure the destruction of the respective regime, all within the boundaries established by the very state4.

2 Hans Morgenthau, Kenneth Thompson and David Clinton, Politics among Nations, McGraw‐Hill, 2005, p. 145. 3 Sandal Nukhet & Patrick James, ”Religion in International Relations Theory”, European Journal Of International Relations, 17(1), 2011 p. 19. 4 Ibidem, p. 45.


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Until the beginning of the 20th century, the religious institutions of a state had been the ones regulating on the social, political and economic behavior within the state. This would be the characteristic feature until after the Second World War, when many states, especially some of the Middle East, embraced secularism. This meant that the plurality of belief and religious preferences was left untouched by the state, even encouraged, but rather left to the private sphere of one’s life. It is as if the Church and all the other religious institutions have grasped the important role that religion had inside the state and as a result, the very state attempted to curtail that influence, by restricting the religious influence only to the private sphere.

The basic definition of religion rests as follows – “a set of beliefs about the ultimate ground of existence, that which is unconditioned, not itself created or caused and the communities and practices that form around these beliefs”5. In contrast, secularization refers to the “erosion of subjective belief in an ultimate ground of existence, a duty, God etc.”6. At first sight it would appear that secularization is the doom of religion. And could it not be considered thus in light of the events of the Middle East, where the West refused to acknowledge the need of the presence of religion in tackling the situations in these lands?

II.1. Religion from historical element to the 21st century categories It is an acknowledged fact that religion can engender major risks to

both national and international security. In this regard, states need to create strategies that need to be followed in order to avoid transforming this factor into a source of religious conflict. The main research hypothesis that this article pursues, is that religion is a sensitive matter, which can be a factor of instability and conflict. In the 13th‐14th century, the state took over some of the tasks that belonged traditionally to the Church, foreseeing thus the main effort put forward by the Reform in separating the Church and the State. This process was in fact an early attempt to secularize religion. 21st century is taking the process even further attempting to call religion responsible for almost all the major conflicts of the globe.

5 Daniel Philpott, ”The Challenge of September 11 to Secularism in International Relations”, World Politics, 55, 2002, p. 66. 6 Ibidem, p. 67.


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It is common nowadays to hear statements, even from the media, that a conflict is a religious one. Many researchers7 have questioned this fact, wondering whether it is the phenomena of globalization and internationalization which are responsible for labeling so easily a conflict as a religious one. In such circumstances, the parties interested into turning a conflict into a religious one, even though its roots are clearly not religious, would only grab the opportunity of escalating it, leading thus to instability and tensions that can affect the evolution of countries and regions, especially within the context of EU enlargement and the aspirations of many countries to accession to the United Nations or NATO.

It can be stated at this point in the present research, that religion is not a cause, but rather a pretext for war, “helping” in the hiding of the very purpose for which the respective war is fought.

For a more coherent and accurate analysis of the identity and cultural aspect of a religious conflict, one needs to take into consideration the fact that such issues are definitely traits of a civilization, people and state. Altogether with other factors such as language, history and culture, religion occupies a high position in the definition of a state’s identity8.

Samuel Huntington predicted in his book the “replacement of the Cold War political and ideological borders with crises and blood sheds at the crossroads of civilizations”9. This perspective is currently referred to by religious extremists who state that this is the time to clean their cultures from all the impure elements of the Western civilization. This Western civilization concept often includes references to globalization, the Christian faith and Jews, which shows that apart from the efforts made in order to curtail Western influence within their countries, these extremists draw on the traditional strife within the Middle East against the Jewish population10. These extremists resort to such practices founding them on the fact that most of their followers are poor, living in improper conditions, but theyare still strong believers in the importance of true, original, ancient faith. Exploiting the belief of such followers is a guarantee in the success of their

7 Katerina Dalacoura, International human rights norms and the state in Egypt and Tunisia: globalization, liberalism and culture, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p. 76. 8 Samuel Huntington, ”The Clash of Civilizations”, Foreign Affairs, 1992, p. 8. 9 Ibidem, p. 7. 10 Stewart Ross, The Middle East since 1945, US: McGraw‐Hill, 2006, p. 15.


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attempts of taking forward religious extremism11. And provided that countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, to name but a few, have a numerous poor population, but strongly connected to the Islamic religion, religious extremism will always have a ground to develop.

On account of the rapid pace of development, most contemporary societies seem to have lost their values and morals. In this regard, spiritual leaders invoke the need of a more accentuated presence of the religious factor within the respective community. The benefits are multiple – firstly, it will definitely curtail the speed of the society, as religion praises on the pacing of facts. Secondly, it will help re‐establish values within the society and will restore the belief in one’s limits and the peaceful acceptance of such limitations12. In this regard, the benefits shall be overall, as the community will more likely embrace God again and will always look for comfort within religion in case of misfortune.

Apart from denominating an identity feature (as religion is part of establishing one’s identity within the respective culture), another etymology of the word – “religare” has the role of contributing to the strengthening of the society. The Latin word “religare” means to tie and to fixate. In this regard, religion is fundamental in establishing a social cohesion within a given territory13.

Thus, it appears that apart from the many different meanings it can have within a society – moral principles, rituals, mentalities, it can also be a manner of embracing the sacred and the spiritual, as such. For instance, in the process of the formation of the Romanian people, embracing religion constituted a constitutive factor of ethno genesis14.

While in the past centuries religion was interconnected with various disciplines regarding human development, such as philosophy, medicine, law, politics and art, nowadays, these areas have grown to a certain degree of individuality and self‐sufficiency, and are often seen as products of a

11 Philip Bobbitt, Terror and Consent. The Wars for the Twenty‐First Century, London: Penguin Books, 2008, p. 37. 12 Ibidem, p. 340. 13 Mihail Anton, ”Abordări sociologice privind relația dintre religie şi securitate”, Implicații ale religiilor asupra securității în contextul extinderii U.E., Editura Universității Naționale de Apărare „Carol I” Bucureşti, 2006, p. 160. 14 Florin Constantiniu, O istorie sinceră a poporului român, Bucureşti: Univers Enciclopedic, 1998, p. 189.


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secular society. However, one is strongly advised not to perceive them as singular products, but rather approach them through the prism of the interchangeable universal ideals that should be able to still unite the peoples of the world into a unique faith. Consequently, achieving world peace and security is not antagonist to propagating belief and highlighting the importance of religion in everyday life. In fact, the evolution of religious understanding has a substantial contribution to how world leaders approach new circumstances, by analyzing all the factors involved through the perspective of both dimensions of the world – the transcendental and the immanent one.

In many countries, religion has remained an important element of political culture, especially due to its power to offer legitimacy to the lay authorities of the state. This is the traditional dimension of religion, presenting itself like this throughout history – religion is situated above earthly understanding, its meanings being revealed only to priests and religious scholars who have enough knowledge and expertise to explain it to the people. This interpretation would be performed in order to offer legitimacy to the leader of the state whenever necessary. However, the question that arises from here is that of the legitimacy entrusted upon the very religion itself. At present, there is no scholar debate on such an issue, therefore, the authors can only hope for future insights into the matter from the readers or fellow scholars.

This can be easily supported by examples of Romanian history – all major political events had to be legitimized by the Church. For instance, in 1330, the feudal state Walachia was born and received its official recognition by the Byzantine Empire and the Ecumenical Patriarchy in 1359, by the establishment there of the Hungarian‐Walachian Mitropoly15.

If the beginning of the 20th century was not significant for the religious sector, the 21st century brought along a re‐awakening of religious sentiment, within the context of acute globalization and uncontrollable economic and social events.

Unfortunately, the 21st century highlighted the importance of religion to everyday life and especially to the political field, by the resurgence of Islam, as the numerous Islamic fundamentalist movements

15 Ibidem, p. 28.


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seem to be answering the needs of a disconcerted population who has no other means to resort to.

Apart from religious syncretism and pluralism, Islamism is perceived as a delicate matter in many contemporary societies, requiring delicate solutions16. The troubling presence of Islam is very much resented in the European Union countries, especially by those whose former colonial empires have provided them with huge numbers of Muslim immigrants.

Tackling such a problem requires a high degree of diplomacy as the very presence of Islam in Europe is itself a clash between civilizations and cultures that could become a threat, should it be neglected or inappropriately discussed.Even though from a religious point of view, Europe has a very colorful landscape, there are three major religions represented on the continent – Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Their survival within strict geographic boundaries is due to inter‐religious dialogue and a spirit of tolerance that seems to be absent nowadays.

It is a fact that, regardless of geographic confinements and individual differences, religion is still a major aspect of human life. Christianity is a label often employed when referring to the European continent. However, the Reformation has fractured it into multiple beliefs that have grown to an individuality of their own, separating peoples, instead of uniting them, despite the fact that they all praised the same God. In addition to this, secularism has been taking over daily religious practices, accentuating the need of people to look for explanations and solutions within the political area. There is one area that secularism has not conquered yet and that is Central and Eastern Europe. After the fall of communism, with its obstination to obscure any form of religious practice, the young democratic societies were eager to embrace religion as a part of their culture and are reluctant to send it to the background, as is currently happening in Western Europe. Eastern European countries consecrate freedom of religion and belief through pieces of legislation and have gone to the very extent of defending it in front of the European Court of Human Rights. By consequence, it is very difficult for these societies to accept and support the term of “religious conflict”. The only veritable exception is that of the Western Balkans, where the conflict within the former Yugoslavia was indeed a religious one. Nevertheless, when the wars in Afghanistan 16 Gabrielle Marranci, Understanding Muslim Identity, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p. 54.


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and Iraq broke out in 2002 and 2003, respectively, it was very difficult for the societies of these countries to fully grasp Western rhetoric referring to the religious dimension of the War on Terror and the need for military involvement in the Middle East17.

The argument that Central‐Eastern European countries have maintained their religious beliefs intact and refuse to embrace secularism is supported not by statistics on how often individuals attend religious service, but rather on the stances taken on a political level on particular aspects such as abortion, euthanasia, gay and lesbian marriages etc. Indeed, these are peculiar aspects to be approached in Western Europe as well, despite the high degree of liberalism it enjoys. However, the nature of argumentation against such practices in Central and Eastern Europe is profoundly religious18. And provided that there is still a strong connection between the state and religion as such, in these societies, the state resorts immediately to religious arguments in order to support its position.

II.2. Religious conflicts Eventually, strengthening the religious identity within a “Europe of

nations” is a fundamental element of establishing another type of security, which is complementary to the already known economic, social and cultural security19. Strengthening and guaranteeing national security stimulates the process of strengthening individual identities, within an environment which helps the individual find his place in accordance with the society’s values. Ensuring personal security contributes to the strengthening of willingness within the society and discourages estrangement phenomena that could lead to antisocial behavior and practices such as terrorism, organized crime, corruption, violence etc.

In order to better understand the birth and evolution of religious conflicts, it is necessary to establish a series of important elements. Firstly, one should establish the dominance of the religious factor, followed by the causes and conditions that favor the appearance of such conflicts. Secondly, the influence that traditional churches have on such a conflict should be

17 Rene Remond, Religion and Society in Modern Europe, Wiley‐ Blackwell, 1999, p. 124. 18 Ibidem, p. 56. 19Barry Buzan; Ole Weaver, Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 1‐25.


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measures, along with that generated by the axiological change of belief systems throughout time. Thirdly, it is essential to identify the religious elements playing an essential part within the security environment, meaning religious threats and vulnerabilities that can de‐stabilize the state security – inter‐ethnic conflicts, religious fundamentalism etc. Finally, there is the need to highlight any interference between religion and politics, especially in democratic reforms, as well as the role played by the Church in a multicultural, postmodern and democratic society20.

Extremism is a result of a combination between religion, politics and nationalism. Its effects were visible in the bloody conflicts of the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East. Extremism is often generated as a tool against Western expansion. The means employed with the help of this tool might be terrorist ones, but as long as they serve the goal of obstructing Western influence in an area, or achieving autonomy (in the Caucasus case), these means shall continue to be employed21.

As a result of this state of facts, any religious conflict involving Muslims or non‐Muslims represents a threat in itself, on a regional and global level, given the solidarity characterizing Islam. In addition to this, a high degree of poverty, illiteracy and over‐population can be factors that increase the threat of a religious conflict to global and regional order.

A detailed analysis of the causes lying at the origin of religious conflicts can offer one the possibility to establish a certain pattern of evolution. The causes are multiple: a certain radicalism among adherents, attempting to maintain inherited spiritual values and reject the influence of other civilizations; discrimination of religious minorities by the very state that accommodates them; the association of religious conflicts with ethnic separatism and nationalistic movements in order to achieve self‐determination and even independence from the mother‐state; the augmentation of hegemonic tendencies among political and religious leaders resorting to religion as a means of achieving power; an increased rejection of globalization, especially when associated with Christianity, by

20 Sorin Tran, ”Religia, Sursă de stabilitate sau factor de conflict?”,Biserica ortodoxă în Uniunea Europeană, Bucureşti: Editura Universității Bucureşti, 2006, p. 245. 21 Ilie Pentilescu, Conflictualitatea etnico ‐ religioasă şi terorismul – dimensiune politico – militară, Bucureşti: Universitatea Națională de Apărare „Carol I”, 16 octombrie 2009, p. 121.


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particular religions such as Islam, Confucianism, Buddhism and Hinduism22.

As is the case with ethnic conflicts, religious conflicts have a strong emotional foundation and are extremely easily influenced by factors that need to be identified immediately, in order to be able to approach them appropriately. The best solution when dealing with such conflicts is prevention, but the international security system cannot work towards the establishment of effective criteria that could be used in this regard, such as monitoring the course of events, identifying events that could lead to a conflict and preventing them etc. Often, the people attempting to transmit a message resort to terrorist practices.

Using terrorist methods, in order to promote specific religious interests and ideas, as well as the coordination of leadership actions of several extremist leaders, should prompt the necessary authorities to take further actions so as to prevent the escalation of tensions n into a religious conflict. These methods could consist of firstly monitoring the eventual conflict area and drawing estimations on possible outcomes, followed by an evaluation of the impact a religious conflict might have on national, regional and international security, both in the long and short term and an update on the most appropriate authorities and decision‐makers on the situation in the area, so as to be able to take an immediate decision, should conflict emerge. In addition to this, permanent cooperation between state and non‐state actors in order to better coordinate in case of conflict is needed, as well as the drawing of more pro‐active security strategies that could be implemented immediately on a national and international level, should it be the case23.

Most religious conflicts appear out of the failure of effective mediation and negotiation. Governments prove incapable to mediate a conflict due to the lack of expertise, or on account of the failure of their own state mechanisms, as was the case of former colonial empires which broke in the 1960s and left behind state with no government authority – “failed states”24. The precarious condition of these states is augmented furthermore

22Ibidem, p. 126. 23 Jean‐Luc Marret, Techniques du Terrorisme, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2000, p. 24. 24 Noam Chomsky, Failed States, US: Holt Paperbacks, 2006, p. 34.


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by poor living standards, corruption, underground economy and trafficking and even outside intervention.

Constructivists highlight the fact that religion is not meant to be leading inevitably to war. It is socially created by symbols, myths and memories which could be changed throughout time, according to the needs of the population. However, political and especially extremist manipulation uses the emotional strength of religious and ethnic symbols in order to “guide” the preferences of a community towards a specific end. In the field of International Relations, constructivism has a rather difficult position to fill in, should one compare it with the more classical approaches of liberalism and realism. It is not simply a theory, but rather a theoretically‐applied manner of looking at the world. Its view on religion as stated above stems from the fact that it does not approach it as just another variable communicating information to the researcher, but attempts to see beyond this, deep into the social effect caused by the variable25. Scholars such as Alexander Wendt or James G. March and Johan P. Olsen have stressed the importance of applying a combination of history, ideas and beliefs to a given situation, in order to be able to explain a state’s behavior26. Their emphasis is also placed on the social context in which acts occur and the rationality applied by the state in this regard. As the reader shall see throughout the paper, any analysis of contemporary religious conflicts needs to be approached from a constructivist manner, due to the fact that the main image may not always justify the long‐term implications.

Within a religious conflict, one needs to take into account that apart from having rational actors confronting in structurally anarchic conditions, the security dilemmas are born from the manner in which the parties manipulating emotional symbols prefer violence to negotiation27.

Where such states exist, some scholars argue in favor of ignoring the issue of sovereignty and press for an intervention in order to both protect those threatened, even if they are the internal population and prevent for the spilling over the border of the conflict. This is the issue of the much

25 Edward Kolodziej, Security and International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 259; 26 Ibidem, pp. 260‐267. 27 Jean‐Luc Marret, Techniques du Terrorisme, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2000, p. 102.


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disputed “humanitarian intervention”28 which gathered both adepts and opponents.

The threat of a religious conflict has a complex, diverse, unpredictable and multidirectional character, which makes it even more difficult for the state authorities to devise policies both to prevent and curtail it.

It is a fact that a religious crisis would easily step from a religious register to a political one, should there be pressing economic issues within the respective country. The continuous religious character of a conflict is given by the nature of the parties involved and their religious allegiance to one group or another. The best example of such a religious conflict is the present‐day confrontation between Sunni and Shia in Syria. However, the violence in Syria cannot be reduced to merely a religious confrontation. Indeed, religion has taken its toll upon the conflict, but the inner struggle of the country stems from previous tensions connected to the failed attempts of President Assad to follow in his father’s footsteps and bring reform upon the state. Government was still run in a firm, Soviet‐style manner, the economy was shrinking and the attempts to engage in much‐disputed relations with Israel failed. Demonstrations began early in 2011, and were soon followed by the division of the forces, between the government and the rebels. Approximately 1000 armed groups operate in Syria, totaling 100.000 persons. Their goal: to gain control of the country by guerilla tactics and remove the government from power. In this struggle for control, the Sunni‐Shia rift is barely seen as a means to an end. The conflict is a political one, with rebels and governmental forces clashing over the defenseless population.

Only on second thought does one manage to understand the religious background of the conflict, as the domestic conflict on bad governing managed to escalate into one that brought religious fighters from all over the region. It is this very sectarian29 aspect that led to the radicalization of the fight. In light of the growing tensions and violence of 2011, external help was needed. Thus, Shias from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon entered the country on a sacred mission to protect both the regime as well

28 Malcolm Shaw, Public International Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 345. 29 Stewart Ross, The Middle East since 1945, McGraw‐Hill, 2006, pp. 218‐220.


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as the sacred sites of Syria. It was the crusades all over again. Their opponents are these rebel groups, mostly Sunni and majorly helped by other Sunni Muslims, some being Al‐Qaeda members. The political fight turned into one in which each call the other “infidel” and a member of “Satan’s Army”30. In the 21st century, such a dispute with religious features would generally be left aside, given the many attempts to secularize even the Middle East countries. However, in the aftermath of 9/11 and especially after the many kidnappings and beheadings performed by religious fanatics or terrorist groups, a dispute over a resemblance of a Holy land and the protection of religious customs, even by strange doings no longer seems far‐fetched. This explains the current religious resentment of the Assad family – they are Alawites and Alawites are regarded to be “heretics” in Syria.

The issue of sectarian violence arises also in the case of Lebanon. Lebanon and Syria are very similar with regard to the religious composition of their population. Additionally, they had the same history throughout the 20th century, being under the control of foreign powers, until the two became entangled in the rumors about the assassination of Lebanese Prime‐minister Rafik Hariri. 50% of the Lebanese are Christian: Maronites (who have strong connections with the Catholic Church and the Vatican), Orthodox Roman Catholics and Protestants, which entitled them to receive French and American support throughout the occupation of the territory during the World Wars. The remaining half of the population comprises both Sunni and Shia Muslims, Jews and Druze (who are “a secret, exclusive and sometimes British‐backed monotheist sect generally recognized as closer to Islam than anything else”)31.

Similarly to Syria, Lebanon’s territory had been divided after the end of World War I and entered under a French mandate. Many of the leadership echelon who were Arab nationalists resented the fact that both their country and Syria have been sliced up between colonial powers and sympathized with Syria. This pro‐Syrian sentiment survived to the present

30 Daniel Burke, ”Syria explained: How it became a religious war?”, September 4th, 2013, http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/04/syrian‐wars‐got‐religion‐and‐that‐aint‐good/ 31 Ross, op. cit., p. 29.


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day and can explain the urge to help achieve some sort of stability in the country32.

In light of the constructivist argument made earlier in this paper, in the case of Lebanon, religion is misinterpreted to be causing the on‐going military conflict33. Indeed, the population is massively armed, and the situation of the Shia minority is growing more stressful by the day, but religion need not be regarded as a trigger, but rather as an identifier force for the population34. It is rather a fact that domestic instability in this area is produced by a combination of factors: demography (the Shia numbers are growing while Christian numbers shrink, limited resources, the religious trends of the surrounding areas, the constant threat of a military intervention from Israel and the growing strength of Hezbollah, to name but a few. In addition to this, the Alawites are playing a decisive role in the country’s relation to Syria. Thus, these Alawites are deeply connected with the ruling class of Syria, dominated by Alawites, which gives them strength on a political level, as well as more protection than any other religious denomination in the country35.

The fact that Hezbollah is very strong in Lebanon cannot go unobserved by anyone analyzing the connection between Lebanon and Syria with regard to the sectarian violence in Syria. To conclude this example of sectarian violence in Syria, even though the fight did not start as a sectarian one, it gradually became one, as Hezbollah is a Shia militia fighting against the Sunni Muslims and the Al‐Qaeda fighters that joined the Sunnis. Thus, many in Lebanon, although afraid that this might lead to another civil war, claim that the fight is larger than a regular fight between sects, as it now involves Al‐Qaeda as well. However, specialists36 consider that this sectarian strife has the potential to grow to larger and more worrying dimensions that could plague the entire Middle East, as the Shia‐

32 Ibidem, p. 30. 33 ”Lebanon: The Persistance of Sectarian Conflict”, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University, 2013, http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/130801BCLebanonPersistenceSectarianConflict.pdf 34 Ibidem, p. 7. 35 Ibidem, p. 10. 36 Jeremy Bowen, ”Syrian conflictʹs sectarian shadow over Lebanon”, June 20th 2013, BBC News, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world‐middle‐east‐22968851


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Sunni dispute is on‐going, to a smaller or larger extent in every Arab country.

History is proved to consist of a cyclic process, meaning that old religious strife would eventually re‐appear decades and centuries later. The religious belief that later built the nation‐states have deep roots along the history of those peoples. In this case, the leadership of the time would wittingly use the interconnection between historical tradition and religion in order to achieve an intended outcome. In addition to this, the better a religion is embedded with a people, the better the chance for that people to be subjected to a religiously‐fueled conflict.

A religious threat is complex, profound and perpetual, due to the fact that veritable religions have deep historical roots, well established in a confined state or continuously delineated by unpredictable events owed to the area gaining autonomy based on ethnic criteria, federation movements and any other actions produced by states or international organizations in the search of their own identity.

The tendency to constantly re‐arrange and integrate new state and non‐state actors within a multipolar international community, by grouping together regional powers, leads to the creation of new balances of power, but also to the creation of new adversities among these powers. In this situation, a religious conflict arises when the representatives of either an ethnic group or a religious community demands their right to a collective status, their own territory and a system of self‐governing. Such demands are usually considered by the very state receiving them as threats to its sovereignty and integrity37.

The mere presence of conflicts is not a threat to peace, but rather their violent form of manifestation, in the shape of placing advantages on one side or the other, discriminating while imposing interests and systems of values which are incompatible to different religious communities. A religious conflict consists of two or more religious groups, disputing between themselves goals and means that each considers to be entitled to have. Religious crises manifest usually when the respective religious community considers its environment, values and integrity threatened.A religious conflict evolves gradually into different forms – non‐violent 37 Malcolm Shaw, Public International Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 198.


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extremism, intolerance, self‐isolation, refusal of any dialogue with the majoritarian religion, hostility, boycott, diversion, religious terrorism, direct violence38 etc.

When analyzing a religious conflict, the scholar needs to guide himself by a set of criteria, which may vary, in a particular manner, from one conflict to another. However, the major elements that can help one place a conflict within a category remain the same: the essence of the religious conflict, the subjects involved, the position of each of the actors involved, and the intensity, duration, evolution and effect of the conflict.

In the particular case of religious conflicts, these are more likely to be regarded as emotional conflicts39, whose participants can be involved on all levels – intra‐personal, inter‐personal, inter‐group, inter‐state or even intra‐state.

Due to the fact that relations between states have a transnational character, religious communities feel more and more threatened by the state competition to their fundamental values, resources, social status and even identity. From a natural competition, that should only determine positive evolution both for the state and the religious groups, they end in becoming rivals in such disputes or crises that currently affect the international environment. The natural question that evolves from this situation addresses the position of religion within geopolitics – does religion form the origin of geopolitical phenomena, or does it just adjoin in amplifying already existent phenomena, which originate elsewhere?

A short historical analysis of the formation of the much‐disputed state of Pakistan shows the reader that religion is prominent as a geopolitical factor in the birth of the state. After more than a century of British rule, the Vice‐Kingdom of India, the Pearl of the British Crown, was divided, based on religious criteria, into two distinct states –the Indian Union (of Hindu religion) and Pakistan (profoundly Islamic).

Another example of how religion shaped the development of the state from its very beginning is that of the transformation of the Iranian Empire into the Islamic Republic of Iran. After The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr left the country (but did not abdicate) in 1979, the

38 Philip Bobbitt, Terror and Consent. The Wars for the Twenty‐First Century, London: Penguin Books, 2008, p. 256. 39 Ross, op. cit., p. 52.


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Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah RūhollāhKhomeiny, who was living at the time in exile in Paris, established an Islamic Revolutionary Council, which proclaimed on April 1st, 1979, the birth of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The new Constitution of the state, passed by referendum, transformed Iran into an Islamic state, led by clergy on all levels of society, under the precepts of the Quran, rejecting all other values, especially the American and European ones40.

Despite the fact that in Pakistan, religion was the generator of the birth of a new state, in time, the place taken by religion within the state changed. It must be highlighted here that the Pakistan of the 1950s consisted of two separated territories, situated at more than 2000 kilometers apart – Western Pakistan, which is today’s Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan, which is nowadays known as Bangladesh. In 1974, Eastern Pakistan proclaimed its independence under the name of Bangladesh, proving thus that religion is not a long‐lasting factor for state building, when opposed by other elements such as ethnic, linguistic and cultural identity, as well as pressing economic and political issues41.

It is a fact that despite both being Islamic states, many countries found themselves confronted with neighbors, as was the case of the Iran‐Iraq war of 1980‐1988 and the Iraq‐Kuwait war of 1990‐1991.

There are also situations in which the role of religion has been a secondary one, leading only to the strengthening of the geopolitical events, instead of originating them. The most obvious situation is that of the conflict in foster Yugoslavia, where the conflict was only augmented by the religious rivalry. However, the foundation of the conflict lays in the attempts to keep or recover territories. In addition to this, the tensions deepened in the region on account of the socio‐economic differences between the federal republics.

Some political and military analysts42 considered that the post‐Cold War times would be dominated by chaos and antagonisms generated by

40 Ibidem, p. 87. 41 Ibidem, p. 106. 42 Mircea Mureşan; Gheorghe Văduva (coord.), Criza, Conflictul, Războiul, Vol.I, Definirea Crizelor şi Conflictelor Armate în Noua Configurație a Filozofiei şi Fizionomiei Naționale şi Internaționale de Rețea, Bucureşti, Editura Universității Naționale de Apărare „Carol I ”, 2007, p. 28.


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ethnic and religious issues, that would lead to the erosion and degradation of nation‐states. Indeed, it can be stated that the nation‐state, despite its long history of survival to the many crises that have challenged it since its appearance in the 1860s, seems likely to succumb to the destabilization provoked by religious rifts. This was the case of former Yugoslavia and might be of other countries such as Georgia and Azerbaijan, to name but a few of the most congested areas. While it is very difficult nowadays to gather a strong and effective, at the same time opposition, in order to be able to induce a change on a political level, exploiting religious differences is easier and more likely to produce immediate reactions. From reactions to powerful manifestations the road is not too long and highly likely to be sided by adepts to the movement.

A clash of ideologies is more powerful than a clash of armies. It can lead, indeed to a clash of armies, but present day wars are utterly asymmetrical, with most of the enemies concentrated in an idea – “The West”43, “The Axis of Evil”44 etc. Terrorism has been acknowledged by researcher to have replaced common forms of war and in its case, religion has a strong and profound influence on its evolution.

Since Islamic fundamentalism has been playing a strong part in justifying terrorist actions, especially those of extremist groups such as those of Al‐Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood etc., one can easily draw a conclusion that religion plays a considerable role in the development of terrorist practices45.

II.3. The role of religion in generating and supporting terrorism The main transformation undergone by terrorism in the 21st century,

after the 9/11 attacks, is the change in motivation, which affects also the structure of the terrorist organizations, as well as the change in operational modes, leading to grave effects of the very attack. The end of the 20th century changed the ethic‐ideological discourse of terrorist attacks to a rather religious one. Although the intended outcome of terrorist attacks is to produce political changes within the state, terrorism has not political

43 Osama Bin Laden ”Declaration of War”, 1996, Anti‐American Terrorism and the Middle East, Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press, 2002. 44 US National Security Strategy, 2002. 45 Steve Bruce, Fundamentalism, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008, p. 44.


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orientation in effect. There are also organizations, such as Al‐Qaeda which cause attacks in the name of religion or ethnic separatism, enjoying thus more support from the masses, but without setting a political objective in sight. In the case of Al‐Qaeda, the intended purpose of Osama Bin Laden was to attack America on account of its involvement in the Middle East46. This led to a re‐arrangement within the organization. Without a visible political objective, terrorist organizations seem to come together around religious or ethnic affinities, which transcend the borders of a state, no longer depending on the financial support of the mother –state. In this regard, these organizations manage to achieve financial and logistic approach from NGOs, business people and even from themselves, through the many illegal activities they perform. The complexity of these elements makes fighting against such an organization almost futile47.

For most of the 20th century, religion has been part of the private area of the individual. When, towards the end of the century it began taking a more visible place in the public sector, the rise of religious conflicts was inevitable. Many politicians and agitators used religious rhetoric in order to mobilize people in national, political and ethnic disputes. Such an approach was used in raising religious terrorism to an entirely new level, by motivating killings in the name of God48.

Undoubtedly, religion can motivate terrorist acts, given the fact that violence is indeed featured in a series of sacred texts and many terrorists are convinced that their actions represent the will of God. This is in fact perceived by analysts to be a perversion of religion and thus makes it crucial for interpreters to establish a balance of approach in regard to individual religious freedom and national security issues. Unfortunately, the need to draw a clear line of separation between religion and violence, to avoid forming an opinion that violence could be justified religiously, affects belief and religious doctrines.

When analyzing the relationship between religion and terrorism, the following aspects need to be taken into consideration: religion as a true

46 ʺOsama Bin Laden speechʺ, 1996. 47 Peter Mandaville, Re‐imagining the Umma, London:Routledge, 2001, p. 71. 48 Reza Aslan, How to win a cosmic war?, Arrow Books, 2010, p. 21.


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motivation for terrorism, as a means of recruiting adherents and as a means of amplifying the impact of terrorist acts49.

It is a fact that religious terrorism is not entirely specific to the Islamic religion, but has also been common to occur within Christian beliefs. Understanding the historical roots of religious violence offers the possibility to separate between cultural and social motivations of terrorism and explains why certain religious groups justify acts of violence as results of religious compulsion.

Some researchers50 consider that, given the fact that secular ideologies are declining, religion, being one of the last motivational forces within an international community flooded with multiple belief systems and lacking moral values, is currently “exploited” in order to push people forward in achieving political objectives. While states need to be constantly reminded that perpetrating religiously‐motivated violence is unacceptable, in the case of religious communities, the task of their leaders resides in interpreting religious texts, so as to help transcend violence, and highlight the belief or disbelief and the need and right of the state to have a religious policy based on secularism. States do not offer guarantees in this regard. However, they have a moral duty, both towards their people and the international community that could be affected by the spill‐over effect to at least, use the available resources in order to ensure public order and security, as well as religious tolerance.

As religious terrorism is gaining more and more terrain, the task of 21st century religion as both a domain subject to regulation by either the state or the Church as an institution, and a belief, is to help delineate a new civil society that could be resistant to the threat of terrorism. The task of each state, individually, is to identify the area in which religion clashes with democracy, globalization, industrialization etc., and provide alleviation in the respective regard, in order to pre‐empt the spread of terrorism.

Religious terrorists perceive their actions as defensive, as Jihad is interpreted by them as a defensive doctrine against aggression51. In its most

49 Gabrielle Marranci, Understanding Muslim Identity, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p. 39. 50 Gabrielle Marranci, Reza Aslan and Elizabeth Shakman‐Hurd are a few of the authors supporting this view in their works. 51 Peter Mandeville, Reimagining the Umma, London: Routledge, 2001, pp. 83‐90.


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violent form, it is justified as a means of last resort in order to prevent the extinction of the Muslim identity. The popularity enjoyed by religious terrorism, as well as its large number of adherents, is explained by the admiration espoused by Muslims towards martyrs, especially those dying in an attempt to punish the enemies of Islam. Committing such an action leads to moral purification, the terrorist being considered God’s Chosen and thus legitimate in his actions. In addition to this, fundamentalist terrorism considers that only a transcendental purpose, fulfilling a universal meaning, can justify terror and associates the Divinity to this process. Consequently, on a mental level, the meaning of the religious struggle is perceived in a Manichean manner – belief against disbelief, order against chaos, and justice against injustice.

An essential part in the proliferation of fundamentalist terrorism is that of militant clerics animated by an ideology which is more active within their ranks than within the community. They act as magnets of collective support, redefining, in an acceptable manner towards religion, the purpose and means of terrorism. Such spiritual leaders are growing popular with the young people, who, disoriented and lacking in perspective, choose to place their efforts in the service of Islamic ideals. By resorting to terrorist acts, they intend to achieve solidarity within the Muslim community, in order to achieve a unique Islamic conscience, capable to regain the strength and vitality of the former Caliphate52. Moreover, the ideology promoted by Osama Bin Laden, towards a globalization of terror, attempts firstly, to set aside Western symbols and then to shape the entire international community according to Muslim standards. The fact that perpetrators of Islamic‐fuelled terrorism within Western societies are actually brought up and educated in the very Western societies they attack has been justified by Salman Rushdie53 by the dualism of the Muslim character – on the one hand, embracing modern realities and on the other, manifesting total submission and veneration towards the native background which is primordial to their being.

When evaluating a terrorist threat, either religiously‐founded or not, one needs to take into consideration the conditions in which the

52 Aslan, op. cit.,p. 60. 53 Salman Rushdie, “Yes, This is about Islam”, The New York Times, November 2001, [http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/02/opinion/02RUSH.html], 1st October 2013.


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respective threat appeared and manifested. In this regard, one needs to constantly monitor states which, based on social, economic and political conditions, might become the incubator of terrorist practices, or the very states whose ruling political regime supports directly or indirectly such violence.

Terrorism is a means of intimidation based on repeated violent actions, performed by state, group or individual actors, out of political and religious reasons and whose first‐hand victims are rarely the intended ones, except for the situation of political assassinations. At present, religion has been experiencing contradictory phenomena – religious proselytism, regrouping of major religions, a strengthening of sectarian resurgence, the rise of secularism in the Western societies, a revival of religion in the former Soviet countries, without reaching a form of Orthodox religious fundamentalism. These tendencies are both challenges and evolutions which could generate conflicts hard to control by the state as well as the international community.

Religious terrorism is probably the most dangerous form of terrorism and the most difficult to approach. This is visible in the case of the conflicts produced by fundamentalist terrorist attacks, such as those between Israel and Palestine, Chechnya, former Yugoslavia etc. The Islamic movements of the European continent used the benefits of the European Union (scholarships, freedom of movement, and cooperation in many fields), as well as the drawbacks of the system, in respect to the faulty cooperation on judicial and police matters, to advance their goals. Thus, apart from promoting Islamic fundamentalism, these groups managed to create on an European level veritable cores of support for their own activities, through the collection of financial and military support from Arab states. After 1990, researchers have noticed an increase in the interest of fundamentalist groups to penetrate the countries of Eastern and Central Europe by using their vulnerabilities as assets in building their policies and maybe further attacks without being disrupted by local authorities54.

III. Conclusions In the 21st century, the presence of religion in IR theory is justified

by the acute shape taken by religious fundamentalism fuelling terrorist 54 Bruce, op. cit., p. 94.


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practices. However, religion has always been a factor that could antagonize people and especially the Church has resorted to this in order to achieve more and more support and benefits from the state.

In addition to the role it plays in generating fundamentalism, religion can play an active role in producing or augmenting political conflicts – the situations in Pakistan and former Yugoslavia standing witness to this. Just as Marx stated that religion is the “opium of people”, present day religion has been noted to be the catalyst of serious conflict for which the international community has not devised proper tactics of control. It is still a sort of opium, but instead of acting as a drug, reducing the users to mere dolls that could be easily controlled; it is in fact a drug that is put to work consciously. States acknowledge the fact that in matters of religion, political authority crumbles, being without any possibility to interfere in order to bring back things to normal, should they deviate. Religion management is within the task of the Church and clerics. Deviations are to be punished and re‐dressed by its representatives. Regulating on matters that relate to human lives, such as death penalty, abortion, euthanasia etc., which should be the duty of both the state and the Church, remains the task of the latter, due to the fact that states, most of them secular, are still afraid to offend religion by political interference.

But what happens when the clerics choose to deviate consciously from the path? Could the state interfere to restrain it? Could state rhetoric have any effect to curtail fundamentalism? In the case of many Muslim states, where the state is run by clerics, religion and state policy are one and the same. In the case of Western states, secular ones, the state is timidly attempting to correct sparkles of fundamentalism. Its attempts are often too late, or too feeble. That is why one could easily argue that even though religion has been approached by the IR theory, its grounds have not been firmly established within the domain itself.

Taking everything into consideration, the constant development of religious conflicts has shown a need for the discipline of IR theory to integrate better the topic of religion, explore it fully and establish, for the long term, a set of categories and variables that could be applied to its analysis. Otherwise, due to the rapid pace of development of such conflicts, religion as a factor and a framework of conflict and fundamentalism shall remain an insufficiently documented matter. Scholars are constantly being


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faced with the need to accommodate the topic, while taking into account the many facets it displays. In this regard, the framework of International Relations Theory has not developed quickly enough to fully grasp the religious phenomenon at its entire dimension. It remains to the future generations of scholars to fully integrate the issue in the theoretical framework and thus, turn it operable at full length. Bibliography: Anton, Mihail (2006), ”Abordări sociologice privind relația dintre religie şi

securitate”,Implicații ale religiilor asupra securității în contextul extinderii U.E, Bucureşti: Editura Universității Naționale de Apărare „Carol I”.

Aslan, Reza (2010), How to win a cosmic war? Confronting radical religion, Arrow Books.

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Bowen, Jeremy (2013), ”Syrian conflictʹs sectarian shadow over Lebanon”, June 20th, BBC News, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world‐middle‐east‐22968851.

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Donnelly, Jack (1982, Jun.), ”Human Rights and Human Dignity: An Analytic Critique of Non‐Western Conceptions of Human Rights”, The American Political Science Review, 76, pp. 303 ‐ 316.

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Macmillan. Marret, Jean‐Luc (2000), Techniques du Terrorisme, Paris: Presses

Universitaires de France. Morgenthau, Hans, Thompson, Kenneth & Clinton, David (2005), Politics

among Nations, McGraw‐Hill. Mureşan, Mircea & Văduva, Gheorghe (2007), Definirea Crizelor şi

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Pentilescu, Ilie (2009), Conflictualitatea etnico ‐ religioasă şi terorismul – dimensiune politico – militară. Bucureşti: Universitatea Națională de Apărare „Carol I”.

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*** ,(2002) Anti‐American Terrorism and the Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press‐Osama Bin Laden. (1996), ”Declaration of War”.

***, (2013) Lebanon: The Persistance of Sectarian Conflict, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University, http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/130801BCLebanonPersistenceSectarianConflict.pdf.

***, United States of America National Security Strategy of 2002.

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