VDM Gelot, L: Religion and International Politics

The current resurgence of religion confronts Westphalian International Relations with a fundamental challenge. The rise of a variety of religious fundamentalisms on a worldwide scale brings back to centre stage the question of the righful role religion should play in world politics. In 'Religion and International Politics', Ludwig Gelot demonstrates that the transnational and religious dimensions of the phenomena call for the develpoment of a new analytical framework and interpretive categories. As a matter of fact, the secularist, materialist, and positivist assumptions at the heart of modern international relations are inadequate for the proper understanding of fundamentalism. Likewise, Samuel Huntington s thesis of the Clash of Civilizations is found to be wanting. The author concludes that the most challenging dimension of the return of religion is its questioning of the West's reliance on reason as the sole source of knowledge and authority.