Faith-Based Diplomacy Trumping Realpolitik
Douglas Johnston
Abstract
For most of the twentieth century, the most critical concerns of national security have been balance-of-power politics and the global arms race. The religious conflicts of this era and the motives behind them, however, demand a radical break with this tradition. Such situations call for a long-term strategy of cultural engagement and an understanding of how others view the world. In non-Western cultures, religion is a primary motivation for political actions. Historically dismissed by Western policymakers as a divisive influence, religion has significant potential for overcoming the obstacles ... More
For most of the twentieth century, the most critical concerns of national security have been balance-of-power politics and the global arms race. The religious conflicts of this era and the motives behind them, however, demand a radical break with this tradition. Such situations call for a long-term strategy of cultural engagement and an understanding of how others view the world. In non-Western cultures, religion is a primary motivation for political actions. Historically dismissed by Western policymakers as a divisive influence, religion has significant potential for overcoming the obstacles and conflict. This book looks at five intractable conflicts and explores the possibility of drawing on religion as a force for peace. It builds upon the insights of Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft (OUP, 1994) — which examined the role that religious or spiritual factors can play in preventing or resolving conflict — while achieving social change based on justice and reconciliation.
Keywords:
national security,
politics,
religious conflicts,
cultural engagement,
non-Western cultures,
religion,
Western policymakers,
peace
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2008 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195367935 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367935.001.0001 |
