Monica Toft on Religion, Terrorism, and Civil War

tonygill — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:00:38 +0000

A week before the 10th anniversay of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Prof. Monica Duffy Toft of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government joins us to discuss what we have learned about religiously-motivated violence over the past decade. This podcast represents our second discussion on the book God’s Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics (co-authored with Daniel Philpott and Timothy Shah), the first being focused on the role of religion in promoting democracy. Our attention here turns to why religious groups and individuals would be prompted to violence. The discussion is far-ranging, looking not only at Islamic terrorism, but includes an examination of the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, Hindu nationalism in India, and the influence of Buddhism on the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. Prof. Toft provides definition of terrorism and “informal violence,” the latter which encompasses such “spontaneous” events as ethn0-religious riots. She argues that looking at, and including, informal violence in the analysis of terrorism is crucial for understanding the phenomenon of religiously-motivated violence. Prof. Toft lays out her explanation for the increasing salience of religious violence, focusing both on institutional factors such as how states regulate religious organizations and the importance of political theologies. The confluence of these institutional and ideological factors helps explain why religious terrorism and civil war has increased since the 1970s. Our conversation also considers the recent rampage of Anders Behring Breivik in Norway. We also discuss the role of religion in civil wars such as Sudan, Yugoslavia and other parts of the world. Prof. Toft finishes the interview with her thoughts on whether religious violence is likely to subside in the future. Recorded: August 29, 2011.

Research On Religion » Anders Behring Breivik

Monica Toft on Religion, Terrorism, and Civil War