ABSTRACT
Secularisation theory assumes religion to have become increasingly differentiated from secular society, privatised and largely irrelevant to public secular issues. In contrast to this view, religious actors in both European and Islamic countries are said to refuse to take the marginal role which secularisation theories have reserved for them. Accordingly, contemporary religion is also assumed to have become increasingly deprivatised and relevant to secular society. Based on similar arguments, recent developments in International Relations (IR) theory also assume religious factors to have become increasingly influential in that discipline.
