The Impact of Religions upon International Politics

“The 21st century will be religious or it will not be.”

Andrй Malraux.

By publishing a book this year (1), in which she pleads for a better integration of religious dimensions in the diplomatic approach, the american former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright underlines in which extent perception of religion has been modified during last twenty years in politician's approach. Throughout the 20th century actually, sociologists as political commentators had announced the fading, the weakening of religion in the industrial Age, indeed even predicted its disappearance. For a long time, the religious factor was not welcome in occidental social sciences, and in particular in international relations theories : many politicians remained reluctant to the idea to integrate it in their recflection, convinced that religion would stay confined in the private sphere, and that many others ideological dimensions would be much more relevant to envision international affairs. Nevertheless, different developments occurred

since the 80's brought about to revalue these perceptions, bringing to light the backlash of religion on the international political scene. The phenomenon had been visible especially at the time of events which have left a mark in recent History, such as the influence of catholic Church in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, or the climbing of radical islamism, but also the importance of religious references in the foreign politics speech of president Bush.

The religious factor reappears broadly that way, inviting international relations theories to reinstate it, especially in their analysis of confrontational dynamics. From then on, we no longer count works on the theme of the religion's come-back, and corollary, about “the clash of civilizations”. This resurgence represents therefore an outstanding phenomenon of our time, which must be taken in account to study contemporary international relations. Envisioning the impact of religious phenomenons upon international politics from the angle of an acute resurgence brings about consequently to interrogate oneself about the new forms they assume : how does the religious factor weigh upon policies, in which way does it influence the conduct of international relations, which role does the religious dimension play upon the worldwide chessboard ?

In a concern for our reflection to be part of a global framework, we will articulate our reasoning around three major axis. The first one consists in considering religion as a source of antagonisms, generating conflicts of interests, of which the political repercussions do shake the international scene. In a second time, we will linge over the way in which convictions, dogmas or religious ideologies can model policies, set the tone to diplomatic initiatives, influence the guidance of states's foreign affairs, thereby weighing upon international relations. Finally, we will tackle the matter of fundamentalisms and others extremist religious dynamics, with a proselyte indeed messianic vocation, liable to threaten the international balance.

“History, for milleniums, proves that religion isn't a simple 'small difference', but the deeper difference which could exist between people.” (2) The diagnosis is issued by Samuel Huntington, who sees in religion a strong identity highlight, ascribing the “global religious renewal” to the religion's capacity for providing an identity, in a modernisation worldwide context.

Without any doubt Huntington's reflections contributed, in their way, to a new taking in account of religious factors in the study of international relations, finding a favourable echo few years later, after the attempts perpetrated on the American ground. So Jonathan Fox acknowledged(3) that “the attempts of 9/11 brought about occidental research wokers to reassert the role of religion in international relations.”

The political problem which consumes Middle-East, with Jerusalem as epicentre, testifies that way to the complexity of antagonisms with a religious dimension. It would be easy to reduce the israelo-palestinian matter to simple political discrepancies, exclusively binded to the creation of the Israeli State in 1948, to the question