Research On Religion » Anwar Sadat

Davis Brown on Religion, Initiating War, and Data

tonygill — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 08:00:48 +0000

Does the religious composition of a nation and its leaders have an impact on whether a country will initiate a war? Prof. Davis Brown, a research fellow at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion and visiting assistant professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, uses new data to show that the answer is yes. The political science sub-field of international relations (IR) has long ignored religion as a factor explaining the occurrence of recent wars. Prof. Brown reviews why this might be the case, and also takes us on a brief tour of the different schools of thought that operate within IR, including realism and constructivism. We then talk about the construction of a brand new data set that categorizes different countries at different times according to the government’s religious preference. Davis was (and still is) instrumental in building this data set that initially examines governments on five dimensions: official favoritism of/hostility towards religion; support for religious education; financial support to religious institutions; regulatory burdens on religious groups; and the free exercise of religion. We discuss what a massive undertaking this data collection and coding is, and why such efforts should be appreciated to the social sciences writ large. Davis admits to not listening to Led Zeppelin while doing this work (though Tony would have the volume cranked up). Prof. Brown then reveals the results of a series of logistic regressions he conducted and published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. He finds that since 1946, the more Christian a nation is, the less likely it is to initiate an international conflict. Islam, on the other hand, shows the opposite trend, with more Islamic nations being more likely to start a war. No effect was found on countries that have a Buddhist influence. We discuss Davis’s ideas about a “religious war ethic” and how this would filter its way into foreign policy decisions. He talks about just war ethics versus pacifism and notes the importance of doing case study research to find the specific causal links, though case study work is inherently difficult where much of the effect religious ethics may play is subconscious. He offers up some possibilities related to Anwar Sadat in the 1970s and George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s. We finish with some of the interesting revelations Prof. Brown experienced throughout the course of his studies and data coding, including his greater understanding of Islam and the discovery of a Buddhist war ethic. Recorded: March 11, 2017.

Lawrence Rubin on Islam and Ideational Balancing

tonygill — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 09:00:38 +0000

Can the ideas proposed by one nation-state threaten another nation-state? If so, how do the threatened nations respond? We probe these questions with respect to Islam and the two Islamic political revolutions in Iran (1979) and Sudan (1989) with Prof. Lawrence Rubin, an associate professor of political science in Georgia Tech’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. Prof. Rubin reminisces about how he came to study the role of ideas in foreign policy, and then reviews the two dominant schools of thought in international relations theory — realism and constructivism. The former perspective focuses on material resources and tangible threats made by various nations in the world order, whereas the latter brings the issue of ideas, ideologies, and (increasingly) theologies into the mix. We explore the idea of “soft power,” and how religious ideas can become potentially threatening to the domestic security of a regime, and what governments can do in response. To illustrate how this has played out in the Middle East over the past four decades, we use the cases of political revolutions in Iran and Sudan and how Saudi Arabia and Egypt responded. Larry explains that despite a noticeable decline the military prowess of Iran following its revolution (and subsequent war with Iraq), the Islamic Republic of Iran presents a new ideational threat to the hegemony of Saudi Arabia, not only on sectarian grounds (Shia versus Sunni), but also on Iran’s ability to inspire religious-based social movements that could undermine the ruling government. This was also of concern to Egypt, which had a more secular-based government but which had been seeking alliances with domestic religious actors throughout the 1970s and ’80s. Prof. Rubin provides a few examples of how Egypt and Saudi Arabia sought to “ideationally counter-balance” this international threat. We also bring up the similar challenge posed by the Sudanese Revolution of 1979, another example of a state that didn’t necessarily pose a significant military threat, but still had the potential of upsetting domestic politics in Egypt and Saudi Arabia with the spread of a radical theological message. We finish off our podcast with some of Larry’s thoughts on the threat of ISIS to the region and what he has learned over time by taking the role of ideas seriously in the field of international relations. Recorded: December 7, 2016.

Nathan Brown on the Muslim Brotherhood

tonygill — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 09:00:01 +0000

In order to provide greater historical context to the protests occuring in contemporary Egypt (January/February 2011), Prof. Nathan J. Brown of The George Washington University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discusses the origins and impact of the Muslim Brotherhood. We trace the origins of the organization to the 1920s when Hassan al-Banna, a middle-class school teacher, created the organization in partial response to Christian missionaries and perceived social needs in Egyptian society. We then trace the history of the Brotherhood through the Egyptian monarchy in the 1930s and 40s, the assasination of al-Banna, the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the presidency of Anwar Sadat. Prof. Brown shows how the relations between these various political regimes waxed and waned over time. We continue our historical discussion with an examination of how the Muslim Brotherhood became an international organization, and how each of its different branches around the world retain some degree of national autonomy. Our podcast concludes by examining the Muslim Brotherhood under the rule of Hosni Mubarak and what role the Brotherhood has been playing during the recent series of protests in Egypt. Recorded: February 7, 2011.