ABSTRACT
Postsecularism has gained increasing relevance within and beyond international relations (IR). This chapter introduces dimensions of the contemporary debate on postsecularism in IR. It looks at Habermas’ understanding of postsecularism and argues that, despite its merit and achievements, his perspective is shaped by an ultimately secular logic that reduces religion to a set of cognitive choices and a function in broader processes of social production, using it instrumentally to address the crisis of secularism by leaving the political authority of the latter fundamentally unchallenged. The chapter discusses the role of emotions in shaping a contending ‘embodied’ understanding of postsecularism and provides an empirical illustration of this argument by exploring the 2011 Egyptian revolution. It explores the emergence of postsecularism as a form of critique and resistance to dominant secular, (neo)liberal ethics in contemporary IR.
