ABSTRACT
How does globalisation change our understanding of the involvement of religion in politics beyond the general idea that the core of globalisation implies increasing interdependence between states and peoples, with what happens in one part of the world affecting what happens elsewhere and which may have political ramifications? One approach is to see the issue in relation to a Western-directed ‘globalisation’, seen as a thoroughly malign and comprehensive Westernising process. This form of globalisation is judged to be inherently undesirable, a process whereby Western—especially American—capitalism and culture seek to dominate the globe, sweeping aside non-Western cultures. A second aspect of this view is that, in general, the Western world is made rich at the expense of the poverty of many non-Western parts of the world: areas which are compelled to bear the brunt of an unjust and unequal globalising process. This is possible, it is asserted, because Western capitalist interests determine trading terms, interest rates and dominance of highly mechanised production, via control of important international institutions, such as the World Trade Organization.
