Admission requirements
Required course(s):
- Introduction to Globalization and Transnational Politics, and any 200-level course in the Transnational Politics track.
Recommended course(s):
- Regionality in World Politics: Political Islam in the Middle East is recommended as preparation for this course.
Description
This course offers an advanced introduction to the different ways religion intersects with world politics in the twenty-first century.
The course begins by setting modern religious politics in the context of a series of major phases of human religious history. We will ask how these historic forms of religion tended to be related to politics, and what, if anything, of them persists today. We will explore what is distinctive about religion and religious politics in modernity, and how major social formations such as capitalism and nationalism might be related to religion. Here the focus will not only be on the commodification and nationalisation of religion, but the possibility that capitalism and nationalism have their own religious dimensions and should be understood as modern modes of religious politics in their own right.
In the second half of the course, we examine how religious politics have unfolded over the past century in a number of important political contexts around the world. We will ask what forms of religion are prominent in political life, what role they play, and how we might understand them in relation to the earlier phases of human religious history discussed in the first half of the course. We’ll examine how religious traditions are drawn on to interpret politics and construct political agendas, and how religion is interpreted and engaged with by other political actors. We’ll look at what religious actors are trying to achieve in political life, and what significance these projects have in twenty-first century international politics. Case studies will include the United States, Nigeria, India, the Holy See, and China.
Course Objectives
Knowledge:
Understand the major transformations of religion before modernity.
Identify major types of relationship between religion and politics, and understand how the role of religion in political life has changed through time.
Understand debates about the impact of secularisation and modernisation on religion around the world.
Understand key arguments over the implications of religious change for modern politics
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.
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 2024-2025 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%
Briefing paper: 40%
Reading list
There is no core text. Recommended readings indicative of the course content include:
Casanova, Jose. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Ellis, Stephen, and Gerrie ter Haar. Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa. London: C. Hurst & Co., 2004.
Kepel, Gilles. The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism in the Modern World. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994.
Jaffrelot, Christophe. The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.
Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber, and James Piscatori, eds. Transnational Religion and Fading States. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997.
Walzer, Michael. The Paradox of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015.
The course doesn’t require an extensive background knowledge of religion, but you may find it helpful to have some background knowledge of the major religious traditions. Linda Woodhead, Christopher Partridge, and Hiroko Kawanami (eds), Religions in the Modern World (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016) has very accessible overviews of major traditions. Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions (San Francisco: Harper, 1991) is a classic introduction, and Stephen Prothero’s God is Not One (New York: HarperOne, 2010) is a lively and accessible overview of the basics.
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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