Mixing religion and public diplomacy can produce volatile results, but in a world in which the dissemination and influence of religious beliefs are enhanced by new communications technologies, religion is a factor in many foreign policy issues and must be addressed. Faith is such a powerful part of so many people's lives that it should be incorporated in public diplomacy efforts if they are to have meaningful resonance among the publics they are trying to reach. This book addresses key issues of faith in an increasingly connected and religious world and provides a better understanding of the role religion plays in public diplomacy.
"What could it mean, in terms of strengthening multilateral diplomacy, if the UN, the OSCE, the European Union, and other regional diplomatic frameworks engaged more creatively with a religious perspective? In this ground-breaking volume it is argued that international organisations, backed by governments, can and should use their convening power to initiate new, multi-layered frameworks of engagement, inclusive of the representatives of religion. This can make multilateralism more fit-for-purpose and have a major impact over time on our planetary future. Divided into an introduction and six chapters, the topics covered include: Towards a culture of encounter inclusive of the world's religious traditions structural questions in 21st century diplomacy Knowing what we ought to know: the issues that face 21st century diplomacy Towards the global objective of a common peace for humanity understanding how change happens The diplomacy of the two standards the development of new frameworks of engagement A brief outline is offered of what an all-European initiative - an Agora for Europe - might look like if, in the 2020s, there were the political will to inaugurate a European regional process reflecting the orientation and methodology proposed in the book. Combining cutting-edge research and reflection with concrete recommendations for academics, religious actors, policy makers and practitioners, this concise and easily accessible volume helps to build bridges between these oftentimes separated spheres of engagement"--
The engagement of religious diplomacy within the United Nations systems has become increasingly important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The editors argue that effective religious diplomacy must reflect the great diversity of religious and spiritual expressions within human communities. The editors argue that this can best be achieved through a worldview shift within the United Nations systems. Religious engagement in the United Nations systems has been understandably constrained by limited and formal organizational structures and conventions. However, the existing patterns of engagement mitigate against the very goals they seek to achieve. The editors argue that expanded, yet measured, religious inclusion will strengthen social cohesion in the global community. Contributors demonstrate how communities become stronger when marginalized minority voices are included in public discourse. The editors further argue that governance has a responsibility to ensure a safe environment for this interaction. The editors propose that the United Nations adopt the posture of "loyal opposition", that is inherent in parliamentary democracies, to serve as a guideline for expanded religious engagement. The contributors advance this proposal with illustrations from multiple contexts that address a diverse array of social problems from perspectives rooted in theory and practice.
Mixing religion and public diplomacy can produce volatile results, but in a world in which the dissemination and influence of religious beliefs are enhanced by new communications technologies, religion is a factor in many foreign policy issues and must be addressed. Faith is such a powerful part of so many people's lives that it should be incorporated in public diplomacy efforts if they are to have meaningful resonance among the publics they are trying to reach. This book addresses key issues of faith in an increasingly connected and religious world and provides a better understanding of the role religion plays in public diplomacy.
The role of religion in foreign policy debates, while never absent, has often been sidelined by popular prejudices and secular demands. The religious resurgence in America and the threat of extremist terrorism abroad have paved the way for a renewed recognition of the necessity of careful and candid dialogue about religion's place in international affairs. In recent years, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers have consistently reflected upon the role of religion in foreign policy, resulting in a vast, rich array of resources important for moving forward in an increasingly pluralistic world. Dennis Hoover and Douglas Johnston here present the writings of leading scholars, revealing distinctive approaches to religion and global politics. Religion and Foreign Affairs offers readers a broad selection of essays, ranging across cultures and worldviews. From the ethics of force and peacemaking to globalization and American foreign policy, this compendium provides a solid introduction to the field of religion and foreign affairs that will stimulate discussion and encourage intelligent practice.
With a religious re-emergence in international relations, this book provides an introduction to the role religions play within the global political arena. Culled from theoretical, practical, and real-world experiences, Ferrara explains the role religion now plays in global affairs on diplomatic and political levels.
Since the end of the Cold War, religion has become an ever more explicit and systematic focus of US foreign policy across multiple domains. US foreign policymakers, for instance, have been increasingly tasked with monitoring religious freedom and promoting it globally, delivering humanitarian and development aid abroad by drawing on faith-based organizations, fighting global terrorism by seeking to reform Muslim societies and Islamic theologies, and advancing American interests and values more broadly worldwide by engaging with religious actors and dynamics. Simply put, religion has become a major subject and object of American foreign policy in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. In Finding Faith in Foreign Policy, Gregorio Bettiza explains the causes and consequences of this shift by developing an original theoretical framework and drawing upon extensive empirical research and interviews. He argues that American foreign policy and religious forces have become ever more inextricably entangled in an age witnessing a global resurgence of religion and the emergence of a postsecular world society. He further shows how the boundaries between faith and state have been redefined through processes of desecularization in the context of American foreign policy, leading the most powerful state in the international system to intervene and reshape in increasingly sustained ways sacred and secular landscapes around the globe. Drawing from a rich evidentiary base spanning twenty-five years, Finding Faith in Foreign Policy details how a wave of religious enthusiasm has transformed not just American foreign policy, but the entire international system.
The United States has led the world in almost every way since World War I. In 1941, Life magazine publisher Henry Luce dubbed his country’s preponderant power “the American Century.” His editorial was a statement of fact but also an aspiration for countrymen to unite in promotion of a world order friendly to American interests. Faith and Foreign Affairs in the American Century examines the nature of public involvement in American diplomacy. As a concept decades in the making, the American Century was conceived by those connected through the country’s leading foreign policy think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations. The missionary couple and Washington insiders Francis and Helen Miller, who fought to make the American empire a radically democratic one, figured prominently in that work. The Millers’ many partnerships embodied the conflicts as well as the cooperation of Christianity and secularism in the long reimagining of the United States as a global state. Mark Thomas Edwards offers in this study a genealogy of the concept of the American Century. Readers will encounter moments of Protestant Christian power and marginalization in the making of modern American foreign relations.
Cultural diversity, because it is perceived to have significant security, developmental, and social implications, is fast becoming one of the major political issues of the day. At the international level, it overlaps with the now extensive debates on multiculturalism within states. This work shows how cultural diversity challenges the understanding of international relations as relations between states and, by looking at the issue through the magnifying glass of an international organization, offers innovative insights into the interplay between various levels of international society. The book examines in particular the role of UNESCO, the only United Nations agency responsible for culture and the main forum for international diplomacy on the issue of cultural diversity.
A richly detailed, profoundly engrossing story of how religion has influenced American foreign relations, told through the stories of the men and women—from presidents to preachers—who have plotted the country’s course in the world. Ever since John Winthrop argued that the Puritans’ new home would be “a city upon a hill,” Americans’ role in the world has been shaped by their belief that God has something special in mind for them. But this is a story that historians have mostly ignored. Now, in the first authoritative work on the subject, Andrew Preston explores the major strains of religious fervor—liberal and conservative, pacifist and militant, internationalist and isolationist—that framed American thinking on international issues from the earliest colonial wars to the twenty-first century. He arrives at some startling conclusions, among them: Abraham Lincoln’s use of religion in the Civil War became the model for subsequent wars of humanitarian intervention; nineteenth-century Protestant missionaries made up the first NGO to advance a global human rights agenda; religious liberty was the centerpiece of Franklin Roosevelt’s strategy to bring the United States into World War II. From George Washington to George W. Bush, from the Puritans to the present, from the colonial wars to the Cold War, religion has been one of America’s most powerful sources of ideas about the wider world. When, just days after 9/11, George W. Bush described America as “a prayerful nation, a nation that prays to an almighty God for protection and for peace,” or when Barack Obama spoke of balancing the “just war and the imperatives of a just peace” in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, they were echoing four hundred years of religious rhetoric. Preston traces this echo back to its source. Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith is an unprecedented achievement: no one has yet attempted such a bold synthesis of American history. It is also a remarkable work of balance and fair-mindedness about one of the most fraught subjects in America.
