POLITICAL SCIENCE Y210 Professor Michael McGinnis
Religion and World Politics
Spring Semester 1995
Religious-based ideologies have been used both to convey legitimacy to existing regimes and to provide inspiration for reform and revolution. In this course we will examine some important aspects of the complex relationships between religion and world politics. Emphasis will be placed on understanding historical backgrounds and relevant analytical perspectives on the underlying causes of conflict, not on current events per se. Particular attention will be paid to the role of Islam, in comparison to the roles Christianity and Judaism played in the political development of Western states.
Given the controversy inherent in this subject, a few words about the
instructor's approach seem in order. As a political scientist I am primarily
interested in patterns of political conflict and cooperation, both of which
require mobilization of the joint efforts of groups of (primarily self-interested) individuals. Although religious studies scholars might emphasize
the foundation and development of religious doctrines and rituals, religion's
effects on politics are revealed more clearly in the compromises religious
leaders and subsequent religious institutions make with political authorities,
and in the long-term effects of religious traditions on the collective
worldview of political communities. The fundamental questions I ask when
approaching the topic of religion are: In what ways does religion exacerbate
conflict or facilitate cooperation? How can religion inspire or discourage
efforts at reform or revolution? What are the implications of strongly felt
religious beliefs on the political processes associated with liberal
democracy? Viewed in this way the potential subject matter is virtually
endless, but I have tried to carve out a manageable portion for closer study.
Assignments and Student Responsibilities
This course is designated as an honors seminar. Students are expected to attend each class session, to have completed each day's assigned readings before class, and to participate fully in class discussions. Most required reading assignments will be taken from the following textbooks, each of which can be purchased from local bookstores.
Carter, Stephen L. The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion, 1994, Doubleday.Esposito, John L. The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, 1992, Oxford Univ. Press
Glubb, John. The Life & Times of Muhammad, 1991, Scarborough House
Smith, Huston, The World's Religions, 1991, Harper San Francisco
Other required readings will be available on reserve; in addition, some
materials will be distributed during class. Copies of all required readings
will be available on reserve in the Political Science Research Collection,
Woodburn Hall 200, and/or in the Reserve Room in the Undergraduate section of
the Main Library. (Details will be provided as the semester progresses.)
Since this course is an intensive writing seminar, grades will be based
on four writing assignments and on student participation in class discussions.
Each of the first two papers will count 12.5% towards the final grade (for a
total of 25%), each of the last two papers will count 25% each, and class
participation will also count as 25% of the grade.
More detailed information on the paper assignments will be provided at a
later point, but the basic assignments are as follows. Paper 1 will be due
early in the semester (Feb. 2), and will require students to write a 5-6 page
(typewritten, double-spaced) essay on examples of the most important ways in
which religion has affected world politics. In Paper 2 (due March 9) students
will re-examine this topic, integrating material covered in class up to that
point (as well as addressing any grammatical or stylistic problems identified
in the first paper). For Paper 3 (due April 6) students will investigate a
case study of some religious movement or survey the influences of religion on
the politics of a particular country. Since this assignment will require
independent reading, students should select their topics fairly early in the
semester, and a deadline to do so will be imposed if necessary. This paper
should be longer, some 10-12 pages, and it should focus on a carefully
thought-out and well-justified application of the concepts covered in class to
that particular case. Paper 4 serves the functions of a take-home essay exam,
meant to be comprehensive in its coverage of the course material. Students
will be asked to respond to two questions (out of a list of three or four
choices) in two well-organized and carefully-argued essays of a total of some
8-10 pages. Potential topics include evaluations of the political skills of
Muhammad, the effects of Muhammad's example on contemporary Islamic movements,
the validity of rational choice analyses of religious movements, and the areas
of potential conflict or consistency between religion and liberal democracy.
(Specific questions will be distributed a few weeks in advance.)
Students should plan on attending class during finals week, at the
officially scheduled time (Thursday, 5-7 PM) for a final discussion of the
course material. This meeting will substitute for cancellation of the class
session of April 6, when the instructor will be out of town for a conference.
Incompletes or late papers will be allowed only in extreme circumstances,
and then only if the instructor approves in advance. Students should be warned
that this instructor takes a very dim view of plagiarism (misrepresenting
someone else's work as your own). Students caught cheating in this manner will
receive a failing course grade. Don't do it.
Schedule of Topics and Readings Assignments
Jan. 12 Religion and World Politics: Some Initial Thoughts
Jan. 19 Overview of World Religions
Smith, chapters I-IV, VI-VIII (skim pp. 29-55, 128-147, 228-242)
Jan. 26 Origins of Religion and Personal Religious Experience
Glubb, pp. 7-90
Feb. 2 Group Mobilization and the Institutionalization of Religion
Glubb, pp. 91-190
PAPER 1 DUE FEB. 2
Feb. 9 Dilemmas of Power and Morality: Muhammad as Political Leader
Glubb, pp. 191-346.
Feb. 16 Christianity and Western Politics
R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages, chapter 1, pp. 15-23.
Steven Ozment, Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution, selections, pp. ix-xiv (Preface), 1-7 (Introduction), 19-23
Richard S. Dunn, The Age of Religious Wars, 1559-1715, pp. 1-3, 12-18.
Paul Johnston, "God and the Americans," Commentary, Jan. 1995, 25-45.
Feb. 23 Video: The Glory and the Power, part 3: "Remaking the World"
March 2 Islam and the West
Glubb, pp. 347-402
Esposito, Introduction, chapters 1-3, pp. 3-76.
PAPER 2 DUE MARCH 2
March 9 Contemporary Religious Nationalism: The Islamic World
Esposito, chapters 4-5, pp. 77-167.
SPRING BREAK
March 23 Comparing Religious and Secular Nationalisms
Mark Juergensmeyer, "South Asia" in The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State, chapter 4, pp. 78-109.
Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph, "Modern Hate," The New Republic, March 22, 1993, pp. 24-29
Steve Coll, "Riding the Tiger," chapter 11 in On the Grand Trunk Road: A Journey into South Asia, pp. 188-210
March 30 Religion as Ideology: Revolutions and the Status Quo
Spence, Jonathan D., "The Taiping," in The Search for Modern China, pp. 170-178.
April 6 PAPER 3 DUE APRIL 6
April 13 Separation of Church and State
Carter, chapters 1-10, pp. 3-210.
April 20 Religion and Liberal Democracy
Carter, chapters 11-13, Postscript, Foreword, pp. 213-277, xiii-xx.
Esposito, chapter 6, pp. 168-212.
Daniel Pipes, "How is the Book Blasphemous?", chapter 3 in The Rushdie
Affair, pp. 53-69.
April 27 Rationality and the Reality of Religion
Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy, selections, pp. 17-21, 40-46, 237-239, 250-255, 274-275.
May 4, 5:00-7:00 PM Religion and World Politics: A Reassessment
FINAL PAPER DUE MAY 4