Politics 132A Religion, Nationalism, and Violence in Comparative Perspective Syllabus: Spring 2014

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1 Politics 132A Religion, Nationalism, and Violence in Comparative Perspective Syllabus: Spring 2014 Instructor: Matthew Isaacs Office Hours: Th 12:00-3:00, Olin-Sang 122 Course Description: Recent events across the globe have drawn attention to the complex relationship between religion, nationalism, and ethnic violence. While the bulk of popular attention has been paid to the role of religion in the Middle East, the past several decades have seen a dramatic resurgence of religious conflict across the globe. This course examines the relationship between religion, nationalism, and violence globally with a particular focus on violence in Sri Lanka, India, Northern Ireland, and Nigeria. Though all of these are cases of ethnic violence, the role of religion in these conflicts differs significantly. In each of these cases, students will consider the mechanisms linking the virtues of individual religious belief with the tragedy of large-scale ethnic violence. This course also considers a series of topics unique to religious conflict, including the politics of holy space, the logic of religious violence, and the volatility of public religious imagery. The course is divided into three units: Unit 1: Theoretical Approaches to Religious Conflict (Weeks 1-5) o The first unit introduces the topic of religious conflict and considers theoretical approaches to the study of nationalism, religious politics, and ethnic violence. Unit 2: Comparative Analysis of Religious Conflicts (Weeks 6-10) o The second unit investigates the ways in which these theoretical concepts can be seen in a series of conflicts worldwide. We will consider whether or not a universal framework for religious conflict can be applied to different cases and will attempt to tease out the implications of each case for the theories we ve considered. Unit 3: Topics in Religious Conflict (Weeks 11-13) o The third unit examines a few special topics of interest in the study of religious conflict, particularly the importance of holy sites, the logic of religious violence, and the use of religious images in the public sphere. The course concludes with a brief overview of the nature of religious politics and presentation of student research. Learning Goals: This course aims to improve critical thinking skills by exposing students to abstract concepts and theories related to religion and conflict. The course also aims to improve writing and research skills by encouraging students to critique and evaluate these abstract concepts and theories in their own work. Substantively, the course aims to investigate the following broad questions: Pol 132A Syllabus Spring

2 1. How can we define religious conflict? What does it mean for a conflict to be "religious" or "ethnic" in nature? 2. Is religion itself a primary cause of religious conflict? Or are conflicts over religion more likely to be motivated by instrumental factors and/or elite manipulation? 3. When do religious organizations and leaders support violence and when do they condemn it? 4. Are religious organizations subject to the same motivations as other sorts of civil society organizations? 5. What lessons can be drawn from the history of religious conflict in our cases that can inform other violent and non-violent religious conflicts across the globe? Course Requirements and Grading: Class Attendance, Participation, and Informal Presentations (20% of final grade) Attendance is mandatory. Students must come to class prepared to discuss all assigned readings. Three absences will result in a lowering of your grade by one full letter. More than five unexcused absences will result in an F in the course. If you must miss class for a valid reason or have an emergency, please contact me (before the fact if possible!). Each each student in the class will be required to give an informal, ungraded presentation on one set of readings at some point during the semester. These presentations should be approximately 10 to 15 minutes and will consist of a brief overview of the substantive content of the day s readings and consideration of how the readings relate to the week s discussion questions. A sign up sheet will be circulated at the beginning of the semester. Two Short Papers (each 20% of final grade, 40% total) Students will complete two short papers of approximately 5 double-spaced pages (size 12 font with one-inch margins). The first short paper will focus on theoretical issues covered in Unit 1. The first paper will be due on Thursday, February 13. The second short paper will bring one of these theoretical issues to bear on a case covered in Unit 2. The second paper will be due on Tuesday, April 1. More detailed assignments will be distributed as the semester progresses. Final Paper (40% of final grade) Students will complete a research paper of approximately 15 double-spaced pages. This paper is your chance to further investigate a topic covered in the course or to consider a relevant topic not covered in the course, including new theoretical inquiries or consideration of other cases of conflict. In addition to the completed paper, students are required to submit a brief paper prospectus (one page, ungraded) on Tuesday, April 8. This prospectus must contain a research question and a preliminary bibliography to help you begin conducting research. Students must also prepare a brief (approximately 10 minute), ungraded presentation of their research for our final class meeting. The final paper is due on Tuesday, May 6. Disability Statement: If you are a student who needs academic accommodations because of a documented disability, please contact me and present your letter of accommodation as soon as possible. If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, Pol 132A Syllabus Spring

3 you should contact Beth Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services (x or Letters of accommodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of accommodations. Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively. Academic Integrity: Do not plagiarize. The university policy on academic honesty is distributed annually as part of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Instances of suspected dishonesty will, without exception, be forwarded to the Office of Student Affairs for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the university. If you have any questions about this, please ask. Class Schedule: This schedule outlines topics and discussion questions to be covered each week. Discussion questions are meant to guide our conversations and inform your consideration of the readings. All assigned readings must be completed prior to class on the date listed. All readings will appear on the course LATTE page. Note: There are no required textbooks for this class. Unit 1: Theoretical Approaches to Religious Conflict Week 1: Introduction What is religious conflict? What is the difference between religious and ethnic conflict? How does religion relate to ethnicity and nationalism? What social functions does religious identity serve? Tuesday, January 14: o David Smock, Religion in World Affairs: Its Role in Conflict and Peace, United States Institute of Peace Special Report, No. 201 (February 2008). Thursday, January 16: o Ainslee T. Embree, Religion, Nationalism, and Conflict, Utopias in Conflict: Religion and Nationalism in Modern India (1990), o William T. Cavanaugh, Does Religion Cause Violence?, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Spring 2007). o Jonathan Fox, Defining Religion s Role in Society, Ethnoreligious Conflict in the Late Twentieth Century (2002), o Peter L. Berger, Some Second Thoughts on Substantive Versus Functional Definitions of Religion, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 1974), Week 2: Nationalism and Religion What is nationalism? What is religious nationalism? What factors account for the resurgence of religious nationalism across the globe? Tuesday, January 21: o Walker Connor, A Nation is a Nation, is a State, is an Ethnic Group, is a, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 1, No. 4 (1978), Pol 132A Syllabus Spring

4 o Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1983), 1-7. o Ashutosh Varshney, Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Rationality, Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 1, No. 1 (March 2003), Thursday, January 23: o Mark Juergensmeyer, The Rise of Religious Nationalism, The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State (1993), o R. Scott Appleby, Religion s Violent Accomplices, The Ambivalence of the Sacred (1999), o Rogers Brubaker, Religion and Nationalism: Four Approaches, Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Jan. 2012), Week 3: Theories of Social Mobilization and Ethnic Conflict What causes an ethnic or religious group to mobilize for conflict? When does conflict turn violent? What is the role of religion in this process? Tuesday, January 28: o Doug McAdam et al, Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Framing Processes, Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements (1996), o John A. Hannigan, Social Movement Theory and the Sociology of Religion: Toward a New Synthesis, Sociological Analysis, Vol. 52, No. 4 (1991) Thursday, January 30: o First Paper Assignment Distributed Today o Kanchan Chandra, What is Ethnic Identity and Does it Matter?, Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 9 (2006), o Ted Robert Gurr, Why Minorities Rebel, International Political Science Review, Vol. 14, No. 2 (April 1993), o Andreas Hasenclever and Volker Rittberger, Does Religion Make a Difference? Theoretical Approaches to the Impact of Faith on Political Conflict, Millennium Journal of International Studies, Vol. 29, No. 3 (2000), Week 4: Bottom-Up Mobilization: Religion as Substantive Conviction When and how do religious groups mobilize for protection of their beliefs? Does religion motivate mobilization as a set of values and beliefs? In other words, does religion itself motivate religious conflict? If so, under what conditions and how? Tuesday, February 4: o Mark Juergensmeyer, Why Religious Confrontations are Violent, The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State (1993), o Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations?, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer 1993), only. Begin with As people define their identity o Jeffrey R. Seul, Ours is the Way of God: Religion, Identity, and Intergroup Conflict, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 36, No. 5 (1999) Thursday, February 6: o Isak Svensson, Fighting with Faith: Religion and Conflict Resolution in Civil Wars, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 51, No. 6 (Dec. 2007), Pol 132A Syllabus Spring

5 Week 5: Top-Down Mobilization: Religion as Political Resource When, how, and why do elites encourage mobilization of religious groups from above? What sorts of political resources do religious organizations control? Do religious leaders and secular political elites have the same access to religious political resources? Tuesday, February 11: o Christian Smith, Bringing Religion Back In, Disruptive Religion: The Force of Faith in Social Movement Activism (1996), o Daniel Philpott, Explaining the Political Ambivalence of Religion, American Political Science Review, Vol. 101, No. 3 (August 2007), Thursday, February 13: o First Paper Due Today o Charles Kurzman, "Organizational Opportunity and Social Movement Mobilization," Mobilization, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1998), Unit 2: Comparative Analysis of Religious Conflicts Week 6: Case Study Civil War in Sri Lanka (1 of 2) What were the underlying causes of the Sri Lanka civil war? To what extent was this conflict a religious war as opposed to an ethnic war? What role did religious nationalism play in this process? Tuesday, February 25: o Berkley Center, Sri Lanka: Civil War Along Ethno-Religious Lines, Case Study Series (May 2011), o David Little, Sri Lanka: The Invention of Enmity (1993), o Daniel W. Kent, Onward Buddhist Soldiers: Preaching to the Sri Lankan Army, Buddhist Warfare (2010), Thursday, February 27: o Stanley J. Tambiah, Buddhism Betrayed? Religion, Politics and Violence in Sri Lanka (1992), Week 7: Case Study Buddhist Nationalism in Sri Lanka (2 of 2) To what extent were religious organizations or leaders involved in the mobilization of ethnic enmity in Sri Lanka? What role did Buddhist leaders play in the mobilization of Sinhalese nationalism? Tuesday, March 4: o Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology: Implications for Politics and Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka (2007), Thursday, March 6: o Michael Roberts, Tamil Tiger Martyrs : Regenerating Divine Potency? Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Vol. 28 (2005) o The Hardline Monks Targeting Sri Lanka s Muslims. BBC News. 24 March Pol 132A Syllabus Spring

6 Week 8: Case Study Hindu Nationalism in India What accounts for the decline of secularism and rise of Hindu nationalism in India? Is religious nationalism in India a function of the design of political institutions, the nature of political culture, a response to rapid socioeconomic development, or something else entirely? What effects has the rise of Hindu nationalism had on religious minorities in India? Tuesday, March 11 (Class canceled): o Second Paper Assignment Distributed Today o Amalendu Misra, Religion, Politics, and Violence in India, Religion and Politics in South Asia (2010), o Sumit Ganguly, The Crisis of Indian Secularism, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 14, No. 4 (October 2003), o Romilia Thapar, Imagined Religious Communities? Ancient History and the Modern Search for a Hindu Identity, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (1989), Thursday, March 13: o Assessment for Muslims in India, Minorities at Risk Project (Available online: o Barbara Metcalf, Too Little and Too Much: Reflections on the History of Muslims in India, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 54, No. 4 (November 1995), o Steven Wilkinson, Which Identities Lead to Most Violence? Evidence from India, Order, Conflict, and Violence (2008), Tuesday, March 18: o Thomas Blom Hansen, The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India (1999), 92-99, , , Week 9: Case Study The Role of Religion in Northern Ireland What role did religion play in the conflict in Northern Ireland? Can we call this a religious conflict? What factors might explain differences in the role of the Catholic Church in Republican identity compared to the role of Protestant churches in Unionist identity? Thursday, March 20 o Berkley Center, Northern Ireland: Religion in War and Peace, Case Study Series (February 2011), o Claire Mitchell, Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland (2006), 1-17, o Film Clip: Scene from The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) (1:43-1:46) Tuesday, March 25: o John Bell, For God, Ulster or Ireland? Religion, Identity and Security in Northern Ireland, Institute for Conflict Research (March 2013), Week 10: Case Study Ethnicity and Religion in Nigeria How do ethnicity and religion overlap in Nigeria? What other sources of ethnic affiliation are prominent in Nigerian society? Are all of these dimensions of identity politically salient? Can we confidently label this a case of religious conflict? Thursday, March 27: Pol 132A Syllabus Spring

7 o Berkley Center, Nigeria: Rivalries Split Along Ethno-Religious Lines, Case Study Series (May 2011), o David D. Laitin, Hegemony and Religious Conflict: British Imperial Control and Political Cleavages in Yorubaland, Bringing the State Back In (1985), o Jibrin Ibrahim, The Politics of Religion in Nigeria: The Parameters of the 1987 Crisis in Kaduna State, Review of African Political Economy, No. 45 (1989), o John Campbell and Asch Harwood, Why a Terrifying Religious Conflict is Raging in Nigeria, The Atlantic, July 10, Unit 3: Topics in Religious Conflict Week 11: The Political Value of Holy Sites What explains the political value of place in religion? How do secular or religious leaders make use of holy sites to gain political notoriety (or infamy)? Tuesday, April 1: o Second Paper Due Today o Ronald E. Hassner, To Halve and to Hold: Conflicts Over Sacred Space and the Problem of Indivisibility, Security Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2003), Thursday, April 3: o Roger Friedland and Richard Hecht, The Bodies of Nations: A Comparative Study of Religious Violence in Jerusalem and Ayodhya, History of Religions, Vol. 38, No. 2 (November 1998), Week 12, Meeting 1: The Logic of Religious Violence What explains the use of violent tactics by religious groups? Is the use of suicide terrorism logical in the context of religious conflict? Can religious logic be used to justify non-religious goals? Tuesday, April 8: o Final Paper Prospectus Due Today o Mark Jeurgensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God (2003), , o R. Scott Appleby, Violence as a Sacred Duty, The Ambivalence of the Sacred (1999), o Robert Pape, The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, American Political Science Review, Vol. 97, No. 3 (August 2003), o Alex Perry, How Sri Lanka s Rebels Build a Suicide Bomber, Time, May 12, (Available online: Week 12, Meeting 2: Religious Imagery in the Public Sphere What role does religious imagery serve in the public sphere? When do political leaders use religious imagery? Does religious legitimacy make a difference? Thursday, April 10: Pol 132A Syllabus Spring

8 o Daniel Corstange, Religion, Pluralism, and Iconography in the Public Sphere: Theory and Evidence from Lebanon, World Politics, Vol. 64, No. 1 (January 2012), o Joseph Bock, Communal Conflict, NGOs, and the Power of Religious Symbols, Development in Practice, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Feb. 1997), Week 13: Conclusions (Final paper due May 6) Thursday, April 24: o No readings. First half of class will present and discuss the status of their final research paper (presentation is ungraded). Tuesday, April 29: o No readings. Second half of class will present and discuss the status of their final research paper (presentation is ungraded). Other Resources: Students may find the following resources of use when crafting their research papers or of general interest for inquiry into the study of religion and conflict: The Immanent Frame, prolific blog about secularism run by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC): Columbia University Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life: The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA): The Minorities at Risk (MAR) Project contains a large amount of historical information on religious minorities around the globe: The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University: Pol 132A Syllabus Spring