POLITICAL SCIENCE 280

RELIGION AND POLITICS

SYLLABUS

This is not a course on comparative religion.  It is a course that surveys and compares the role of religion in global politics, international relations, and domestic policy.   It is clear that religion has and continues to play a major role in the politics of nation-states and the development of the international system.  While the world seemed primarily focused on the recent role of political Islam, this course recognizes the role of the major religions (defined as those faiths with a “world-wide” presence) in the shaping of politics in the domestic contexts of nations and world politics.

REQUIRED BOOKS AND READINGS

You will find the following books in the campus area bookstores. 

 N.J. Demerath III. Crossing the Gods: World Religions and Worldly Politics. 2001.

Jacob Neuse, God's Rule

Kenneth Wald, Religion and Politics in the United States, 3rd Edition, CQ Press, 1997

Jelen Ted, G. and Clyde Wilcox (eds). Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective: The One, the Few, and the Many. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Rudolph, Susanne H. and James Piscatori (eds). Transnational Religion and Fading States. Boulder: Westview Press, 1997 (recommended)

Jeffrey Haynes.  Religion in Global Politics. 1998.

I have also placed a number of books and readings on reserve.  You are also encouraged to use interlibrary loan to access other books listed but not in the Library.

Jeffrey Haynes, Religion, Globalization and Culture in the Third World. 1999. (Readings from this second Haynes volume are on reserve).                                                                                                                                      

Leroy Rouner, editor  Human Rights and the World's Religions, 1988. 

Peter Beyer, Religion and Globalization (readings to be assigned)

Peter L. Berger, editor.  The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics. 1999.

Mario Apostolov.  Religious Minorities, Nation States and Security.                                  

Michael Candalaria.  Popular Religion and Liberation.                                                       

Thomas Bloom. The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in India          

Stephen Carter.  Culture of Disbelief and Dissent of the Governed.                                    

James Cone.  Black Theology and Black Power.                                                                     

Paulo Freire.  Pedagogy of the Oppressed.                                                                             

Jeffrey Haynes.  Readings from Religion, Globalization and Political Culture in the                             Third World.                                                                                                     

Bernard Lewis.  Islam and the West and What went Wrong? (a 2001 publication)           

George Moyser.  Politics and Religion in the Modern World.                                                   

John Pottenger.  The Political Theory of Liberation Theology.                                               

Emile Sahliyeh. Religious Resurgence and Politics in the Contemporary World.                    

Ira Sharkansky. Rituals of Conflict: Religion, Politics and Public Policy in Israel.            

William Swatos.  Religious Politics in Global and Comparative Perspective                         

Max Weber.   The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.                                            

Cornel West.   Prophetic Fragments: Illuminations of the Crisis of  American Political                            Culture                                                                                                                 

Michael Zweig.    Religion and Economic Justice.

Course Requirements:  To earn a final grade in this course all of the following work must be completed. 

Midterm                     30%

Research Paper          50%

Class led discussion   20%

Book Review: You are to write a 3-5page critical review of any book you read for this class on a relevant topic, apart from the required textbooks.  For discussion of the critical book review follow the link.

Research Paper:  You must research a relevant issue and/or topic of you choice.  In depth discussion of what research papers entail will be found by following the links on my main homepage.  For those of you who need some sense of paper length the paper may be between 15-25 pages.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

(Start counting from the first week of classes for the semester. The count does not include the week of Spring Break)