Wed.,30 Jan.,4:30pm: "Secularism and IR Theory" (Elizabeth Shakman Hurd)
Maryam J. Rutner
"Secularism and IR Theory"
A talk by
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd
Member of SSRC Working Group on "Rethinking Secularism" and
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University
Author of the just published book, The Politics of Secularism
(Princeton University Press, 2008)
Chaired by
Jack Snyder
Robert & Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations
Alfred Stepan
Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and
Religion (CDTR)
Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government
This talk is based on the working paper "Secularism and IR Theory." A
copy of the paper is available on CDTR's website at
www.sipa.columbia.edu/cdtr.
How might we begin to think about secularism, and eventually,
secularisms in the plural, as significant forms of political authority
in contemporary international relations? What would this shift mean
for IR theory, and what would it mean for understanding the global
resurgence of religion? What kinds of regional and global politics
follow from different secular commitments, traditions, habits, and
beliefs? Drawing on her recent book, and her work with the SSRC
Working Group "Rethinking Secularism," Elizabeth Shakman Hurd argues
that secularist divisions between religion and politics are not fixed
but socially and historically constructed. The failure to recognize
this helps to explain why IR?both theoretically speaking and in terms
of actual practice?has been unable to come to terms with the political
authority of secularism and religion in world politics. Overcoming
this problem allows a better understanding of crucial empirical
puzzles in international relations involving the politics of religion,
including the conflict between the United States and Iran, controversy
over the enlargement of the European Union to include Turkey, the rise
of political Islam, and global religious resurgence.
Recent articles by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd include "Political Islam and
foreign policy in Europe and the United States," Foreign Policy
Analysis (2007), "Theorizing religious resurgence," International
Politics (2007); and "Negotiating Europe: The politics of religion and
the prospects for Turkish accession to the EU," Review of
International Studies (2006).
Date: Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Time: 4:30 ? 6:30pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Lindsay Rodgers Room (7th Floor)
A reception will follow the talk.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Political Science Department, the
Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, the Center for the Study
of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), and the Institute for
Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL).
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Maryam J. Rutner
Departmental Research Assistant
Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR)
School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)
Columbia University