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Global Change, Peace & Security
formerly Pacifica Review: Peace, Security & Global Change
ISSN: 1478-1158 (Print) 1478-1166 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cpar20
Religion and international security
Peter S. Henne
To cite this article: Peter S. Henne (2019): Religion and international security, Global Change,
Peace & Security, DOI: 10.1080/14781158.2020.1695590
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2020.1695590
Published online: 05 Dec 2019.
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BOOK REVIEW
Religion and international security, by Lee Marsden, Cambridge, Polity, 2019, 256
pp., $22.95 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-7456-6363-0
Lee Marsden’sReligion and International Security is a well-written book on the important and
diverse impacts religion has on international security. It should be of interest to those
seeking an introductory text to this topic. Yet, Marsden gives too much away to critics of reli-
gion’s importance. He also could have moved the book beyond its broad discussions, providing
space to develop some interesting insights hidden inside.
In this book, Marsden hopes to go beyond approaching religion using ‘good/bad or violent/
pacific binaries’(2019, 2). Instead, he claims: that religion and its political applications are ‘social
constructs’, that the good/bad dichotomy ‘enables states to control and use religion’, that ‘poli-
tics shapes religion as much as …religion shapes politics’, that ‘what is described as religious is
often political’, and ‘religion is inherently political’(2019, 2).
Marsden elaborates on these points over the next chapters. ‘Theorizing Religion and Inter-
national Security’summarises the reasons for religion’s exclusion from international relations
theory. ‘Sacred Violence and Clashing Civilizations’rejects religion as a cause of violence,
and instead point to ‘mimetic rivalry’to explain its role in conflict. Two complementary chap-
ters, ‘Just War and Jihad’and ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’present the ways religion has been
used in war and peace. ‘Faith-based initiatives and International Security’covers religion’s use
by states, while ‘Suffering and Dying in the Name of God’discusses religious persecution.
Marsden then ties these together with a concluding chapter.
These chapters are a useful discussion of the role of religion in international security. ‘Sacred
Violence and Clashing Civilizations’provides a helpful overview of religious violence across
time and traditions. ‘Faith-Based Initiatives and International Security’discusses understudied
topics like military chaplains. And the concluding chapter includes some noteworthy takes on
religion’s role in international security.
Moreover, while this book seems geared to those new to this topic, Marsden provides some
novel thoughts on religion and international security. His discussion of the limits of Habermas’
work on religion in the public sphere as ‘indicative of the well-established constructions and
norm of a religious-secular divide in the social sciences’was compelling (19). Similarly, concep-
tualising religious terrorist movement leaders as ‘norm entrepreneurs’was fascinating (189).
Both were relatively short passages, but could inspire deeper investigations.
One issue I had with the book, though, was that Marsden gives too much away to critics. As I
noted above, a few of his key arguments have to do with religion actually being political. This
alludes to a line, used often by skeptics, that what we think of as religious influence on inter-
national relations is really ‘just politics’. For example, Marsden points to political and organis-
ational aspects of religious terrorism to question whether we should call it ‘religious’. (100–
106). This is a common critique, but one that is less effective than it seems. Few scholars
argue religious politics is driven solely by religious beliefs or dogmas. In fact, several have expli-
citly discussed the ways religious belief interacts with political calculations and strategic incen-
tives; two notable ones are Monica Toft and Daniel Philpott.
1,2
And much of my own work
1
Monica Duffy Toft, ‘Getting Religion?: The Puzzling Case of Islam and Civil War’,International Security 31, no. 4 (2007): 97–
131.
2
Daniel Philpott, ‘The Religious Roots of Modern International Relations’,World Politics 52, no. 2 (2000): 206–45.
GLOBAL CHANGE, PEACE & SECURITY
involves analysing how religion interacts with political and organisational conditions.
3,4,5,6
He
thus slips in a facile critique of the very research he hopes to trumpet.
The other issue is the book’s introductory nature, as much of this has been said before. The
potential connections between religion and international relations theory were discussed in
Sandal and Fox’s book on this subject.
7
And the history of secularism and international relations
was discussed by Hurd, among others.
8
To be fair, Marsden cites most of these sources, but
often sticks to summarising them.
It is fine to repeat such arguments in a text meant to provide a foundation for future studies.
But this limits the book’s impact. It leaves little room to elaborate on the interesting theoretical
insights I noted above. Additionally, it prevents him from engaging with current scholarship.
For example, he emphasises the ‘grand paradigms’of international relations even though
they no longer dominate the sub-field’s debates. Indeed, as Nexon and I argued, scholars of
religion and international relations risk limiting themselves by trying to work within these
paradigms.
9
I applaud Marsden for his voluminous research and compelling arguments. I think this book
is worth reading for those interested in how scholars are grappling with religion and inter-
national relations. And I understand why he feels the need to reiterate foundational claims
about religion and international security, since it feels as if the rest of the field continues to
ignore religion. But I worry that the book’s failure to move beyond broad claims of religion’s
importance gives the impression that this work is stuck on the fundamentals, rather than
being the flourishing –if scattered –research program it is.
Peter S. Henne
Department of Political Science, University of Vermont
peter.henne@uvm.edu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0887-2255
© 2019 Peter S. Henne
https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2020.1695590
3
Peter S. Henne, ‘The Ancient Fire: Religion and Suicide Terrorism’,Terrorism and Political Violence 24, no. 1 (2012a): 38–60.
4
Peter S. Henne, ‘The Domestic Politics of International Religious Defamation’,Politics and Religion 6, no. 3 (2013).
5
Peter S. Henne, Islamic Politics, Muslim States and Counterterrorism Tensions (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
6
Peter S. Henne, ‘The Two Swords: Religion-State Connections and Interstate Conflict’,Journal of Peace Research 49, no. 6
(2012b): 753–68.
7
Nukhet Sandal and Jonathan Fox, Religion in International Relations Theory: Interactions and Possibilities (New York: Rou-
tledge, 2013).
8
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, ‘The Political Authority of Secularism in International Relations’,European Journal of International
Relations 10, no. 2 (2004): 235–62.
9
Peter S. Henne and Daniel H. Nexon, ‘One Cheer for Classical Realism, or Towards a Power Politics of Religion’,inReligion
and the Realist Tradition: From Political Theology to International Relations Theory and Back, ed. Jodok Troy (London: Rou-
tledge, 2013).
2BOOK REVIEW