Being critical of/about/on religion in International Relations

This chapter explores what it means to think critically about ‘religion’ in contemporary International Relations. Rather than assume that religion is an object that can be defined, delineated and clearly identified and analyzed, critical approaches seek to understand ‘religion’, and its binary opposite, the ‘secular’, as categories and concepts within contemporary global politics that take on divergent forms within specific contexts, signify particular relations of power and are deployed in order to serve specific agendas and goals. Rather than ask whether religion does or should influence politics, or whether religion is a positive or negative influence, ‘violent’ or ‘peaceful’, critical approaches to religion in International Relations explore the normative assumptions about both ‘religion’ and ‘the secular’ that sit behind such debates. The chapter explores developments in the critical study of religion in International Relations, noting its interdisciplinary character and drawing on cases involving human rights, forced migration, gender, law and development.