Religion and Global Politics

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This advanced seminar examines why and how religion influences global politics, and how religion and politics ought to influence each other in different democratic societies. The seminar is interdisciplinary, addressing these questions from the perspectives of normative political theory, empirical political science and law. The empirical part of the seminar will address concerns about how, why and where individuals are religious across the globe, and in what ways their religious ideas and identities influence their political decisions and behaviors. The theoretical part of the course will focus on contemporary debates over the freedom and tolerance of religion and the engagements of religions in political dialogue. In the legal part, we will examine the major questions posed by legal rights of religious freedom (including both freedom of religion and freedom from religion): the origins and scope of these rights, the problems in defining them, and the values with which they can conflict. This course is designed for advanced undergraduates majoring in political science, philosophy or a related field.