ABSTRACT

Religion is seen by International Relations (IR) scholars as either important or tangential, but most of the time the latter prevails, particularly after 9/11. Internationally, religion is treated as an opposing form of epistemic communities, that is non-governmental or trans-national organizations/entities. Even IR theoreticians have excluded religion from their theoretical analyses and methodologies. IR scholars do not know how to deal with, address or treat religion whether they aim to integrate it into IR theories or build new theories to accommodate religion. Although most contemporary IR scholarship looks at religion as a variable operated and perceived to have a preponderating link with conflicts, including its ontological predicament as to its nature and existence, the case of Islam may serve to address religion’s “ambiguity,” especially its correlation with IR. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.