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Religious Soft Diplomacy and the United Nations

Author: Sherrie M. Steiner

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-04-21

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 149859736X

The engagement of religious diplomacy within the United Nations systems has become increasingly important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The editors argue that effective religious diplomacy must reflect the great diversity of religious and spiritual expressions within human communities. The editors argue that this can best be achieved through a worldview shift within the United Nations systems. Religious engagement in the United Nations systems has been understandably constrained by limited and formal organizational structures and conventions. However, the existing patterns of engagement mitigate against the very goals they seek to achieve. The editors argue that expanded, yet measured, religious inclusion will strengthen social cohesion in the global community. Contributors demonstrate how communities become stronger when marginalized minority voices are included in public discourse. The editors further argue that governance has a responsibility to ensure a safe environment for this interaction. The editors propose that the United Nations adopt the posture of "loyal opposition", that is inherent in parliamentary democracies, to serve as a guideline for expanded religious engagement. The contributors advance this proposal with illustrations from multiple contexts that address a diverse array of social problems from perspectives rooted in theory and practice.

Religion, NGOs, and the United Nations

Author: Jeremy R. Carrette

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781350020399

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On the Significance of Religion for Global Diplomacy

Author: Philip McDonagh

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-04

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1000264157

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What could it mean, in terms of strengthening multilateral diplomacy, if the UN, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union, and other regional diplomatic frameworks engaged more creatively with a religious perspective? In this ground-breaking volume it is argued that international organisations, backed by governments, can and should use their convening power to initiate new, multi-layered frameworks of engagement, inclusive of the representatives of religion. This can make multilateralism more fit for purpose and have a major impact over time on our planetary future. The book is divided into an introduction and six chapters: Towards a culture of encounter inclusive of the world’s religious traditions Structural questions in 21st-century diplomacy Knowing what we ought to know: the issues that face 21st-century diplomacy Towards the global objective of a common peace for humanity Understanding how change happens The diplomacy of the two standards The development of new frameworks of engagement A brief outline is offered of what an all-European initiative – an agora for Europe – might look like if, in the 2020s, there were the political will to inaugurate a European regional process reflecting the orientation and methodology proposed in the book. Combining cutting-edge research and reflection, with concrete recommendations for academics, religious actors, policy makers, and practitioners, this concise and accessible volume helps to build bridges between these oftentimes separated spheres of engagement. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003053842, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Faith-Based Organizations at the United Nations

Author: Jeff Haynes

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-30

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1137404515

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The book examines selected faith-based organisations (FBOs) and their attempts to seek to influence debate and decision-making at the United Nations (UN). Increasing attention on FBOs in this context has followed what is widely understood as a widespread, post-Cold War "religious resurgence." The bibliography is available digitally at the end of sample chapter, which can be downloaded on this page.

The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power

Author: Peter Mandaville

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-09-18

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 019760580X

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"In 1947, Myron Taylor, the United States (US) envoy to the Vatican and an ally of President Truman, met with several European religious leaders. In that meeting, Taylor called on "people of all faiths" to "unite upon a universal two-point declaration embodying the spirit of belief in God and belief in human liberty" (Inboden 2008, 124). The political significance of this statement is clear from the context: Taylor held this meeting to gain European support for the emerging struggle between the US and the Soviet Union. While much of Truman's early Cold War policies involved military and economic might, he also hoped to build up the America's "soft power" by appealing to common religious values and identities among allies. The role of religion in Truman's diplomacy should not be a surprise to anyone who studies (or engages in) US politics. As observers since Alexis de Tocqueville have noted, religion is an essential element of America. It infuses debates, and influences political struggles, and therefore it ends up also becoming an important element of US foreign policy. The idea of Manifest Destiny, which guided the country's early expansion, included a belief in the providential backing of the new United States of America. Religious rhetoric and imagery popped up repeatedly throughout the Cold War while continuing to influence US priorities in the 21st century, from debt relief to religious freedom promotion. Few, then would take issue with the claim that religion influences American politics, both domestic and international. But can religion actually be a tool for policy-makers? That is, can US leaders draw on faith to advance US interests?"--

Soft Power

Author: Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2009-04-28

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0786738960

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Joseph Nye coined the term "soft power" in the late 1980s. It is now used frequently—and often incorrectly—by political leaders, editorial writers, and academics around the world. So what is soft power? Soft power lies in the ability to attract and persuade. Whereas hard power—the ability to coerce—grows out of a country's military or economic might, soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies. Hard power remains crucial in a world of states trying to guard their independence and of non-state groups willing to turn to violence. It forms the core of the Bush administration's new national security strategy. But according to Nye, the neo-conservatives who advise the president are making a major miscalculation: They focus too heavily on using America's military power to force other nations to do our will, and they pay too little heed to our soft power. It is soft power that will help prevent terrorists from recruiting supporters from among the moderate majority. And it is soft power that will help us deal with critical global issues that require multilateral cooperation among states. That is why it is so essential that America better understands and applies our soft power. This book is our guide.

Business, Religion and the Law

Author: Matteo Corsalini

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-12-30

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 1000832767

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This book investigates the intersection between business and religion from a legal perspective. Taking a fresh look at some of the most compelling literature in law and religion, it proposes a rethinking of what scholars on both sides of the Atlantic have dubbed “church autonomy” or, more recently, “corporate religious freedom”. The volume explores how, in the wake of a decade of US Supreme Court case law, corporate religious freedom is now increasingly being extended to protect the religious liberty of another corporate entity: the for-profit corporation. By exposing this shift from church to business autonomy in American law, it is argued that a similar narrative has also begun to take place in Europe. Through a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to corporate religious freedom, the work provides the reader with a new, comprehensive, and easily accessible history of the genesis and evolution of this legal category in American and European law. The book combines material that straddles international law and religion, corporate law, and economic theory. The diversity of views contained within it makes it a valuable resource for scholars and students in law and religion, corporate social responsibility, and law and economics.

Problems of Political Secularism

Author: Kenneth J. Long

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2024-01-04

Total Pages: 141

ISBN-13: 1666948632

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America’s debates over secularism are not what they seem. Far from being primarily about religion and its place in politics, these battles over ill-defined secularism are now seen as a diversion in an escalating culture war caused by incapacitated government. Government’s failure to generate needed policies have made Americans angry and unkind: liberals becoming increasingly condescending while the right becomes more transparently racist. Politicians, unable to legislate, still need voters, and they succeed by swiftly changing “issues,” which are often coded as religious but are mostly about everyday matters. Kenneth J. Long argues that public failure elicits personal vice. The liberal values of tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion are “virtues” of the condescending. The belief in science, a tool, is strange at best, and the disdain for the anti-scientific is likewise condescending. For the right, “Christian” is increasingly popular among those who are growing ever less religious and serves as cover for a racist white identity politics. Problems of Political Secularism: Broken Politics, Unkind Cultures illuminates the troublesome outcomes posed by “protecting” autonomy through restraint of representative government and by pitting constituency against constituency to “safeguard” faith from government and vice versa. People of goodwill, faithful and not, are needed to redirect our focus from the symptoms (cultural warfare) to the structural governmental causes.

Religion, State and the United Nations

Author: Anne Stensvold

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-22

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1317382579

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This volume approaches the UN as a laboratory of religio-political value politics. Over the last two decades religion has acquired increasing influence in international politics, and religious violence and terrorism has attracted much scholarly attention. But there is another parallel development which has gone largely unnoticed, namely the increasing political impact of peaceful religious actors. With several religious actors in one place and interacting under the same conditions, the UN is as a multi-religious society writ small. The contributors to this book analyse the most influential religious actors at the UN (including The Roman Catholic Church; The Organisation of Islamic Countries; the Russian Orthodox Church). Mapping the peaceful political engagements of religious actors; who they are and how they collaborate with each other - whether on an ad hoc basis or by forming more permanent networks - throwing light at the modus operandi of religious actors at the UN; their strategies and motivations. The chapters are closely interrelated through the shared focus on the UN and common theoretical perspectives, and pursue two intertwined aspects of religious value politics, namely the whys and hows of cross-religious cooperation on the one hand, and the interaction between religious actors and states on the other. Drawing together a broad range of experts on religious actors, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of Religion and Politics, International Relations and the UN.