Admission requirements
Introduction to Globalization and Transnational Politics, and any 200-level course in the Transnational Politics track. It is recommended that you take Regionality in World Politics: Political Islam in the Middle East as a preparation for this course.
Description
This course offers an advanced introduction to the different ways religion is present in world politics in the twenty-first century. it starts from the premise that religion is a historical phenomenon, and understanding religious politics today means understanding the earlier religious forms that later forms build on, modify, and sometimes reject.
The course begins by introducing the major phases of religious history. We’ll examine how the ‘folk religions’ of the earliest human societies shaped the imagination of politics, and how political power drew on them. We’ll then ask what new political possibilities were introduced by the rise of the Axial religious systems – the so-called ‘world religions’ – that now represent the majority of the religiously affiliated around the world.
In the remainder of the course, we’ll discuss the major developments in the modern world that produced the forms of religious politics that we see today. Topics covered will include the ‘invention’ of non-Western religions, progressive and conservative religious mobilisations, the rise of materialist and atheist alternatives to religion, the fusion of religion with nationalism and other forms of collective identity politics, the impact of globalisation and the crisis of the nation-state, and the turn to more individualised and ‘authentic’ forms of religious self-expression. We’ll study each development through religious politics in a particular historical context. Cases vary from year to year, but previous cases have included Shinto in Japan, the US Christian Right, Hindu nationalism in India, Soviet atheism, and Western spirituality.
This course builds on themes introduced in the 200-level course Political Islam in the Middle East; you will find Religion in World Politics easier if you have already taken Political Islam, and we won’t be focusing directly on the Middle East or Islam on this course.
Course Objectives
Knowledge:
Understand the major transformations of religion in human history.
Identify major relationships between religion and politics, and understand broad patterns in how the role of religion in political life has changed through time.
Understand the terms of key debates around the nature and significance of religious influence in political life in the cases covered.
Demonstrate understanding of the complexity and diversity of religious politics around the world.
Show understanding of how the particularities of religious politics in local contexts relate to the broad comparative categories introduced in the course.
Skills:
Apply conceptual and theoretical tools to analyse the role religion plays in world politics.
Relate empirical cases to broader conceptual and theoretical debates about religion in world politics.
Think critically about existing theories and narratives of religion in political life.
Communicate arguments effectively, orally and in writing.
Develop the capacity to learn independently.
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2025-2026 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
The course is taught through two-hour seminars. Students will be expected to participate in both large and small group discussions; present and defend their ideas within an academic setting; and take part in group projects. The instructor will facilitate and ensure the efficient running of the discussion, but students are responsible for shaping its direction. Each seminar has a ‘required reading’ list that must be read in advance of each seminar. Students are also recommended to read some of the items listed under ‘suggested reading’ prior to each seminar and use the extended list as a starting point in their preparation for essay writing.
Assessment Method
Seminar participation: 15%
Group presentations: 15%
Individual research essay: 30%
Final exam: 40%
Reading list
There is no core text. Recommended texts indicative of the course content include:
Strathern, Alan. Unearthly Powers: Religious and Political Change in World History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Kepel, Gilles. The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism in the Modern World. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994.
Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber, and James Piscatori, eds. Transnational Religion and Fading States. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997.
Haynes, Jeffrey, ed. Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics. 3rd ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr Edmund Frettingham: e.j.frettingham@luc.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
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