EDS376 Religion, Politics and Islam

Credits (ECTS):10

Course responsible:Stig Jarle Hansen

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Engelsk

Course frequency:Biannually - Even years

Nominal workload:250 hours

Teaching and exam period:This course starts in Spring parallel. This course has teaching/evaluation in Spring parallel.

About this course

What is Religion? What is Political Islam? How does Religion influence politics? Should religion influence politics? In the late 60s, the questions would probably been answered with a claim that religion was becoming irrelevant, but the Iranian Revolution, the role of the Catholic church in the Polish solidarity movement, the rise of Taliban, and September 11th as well as the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab spring, all put a question mark behind this assumption.

Learning outcome

1. Students should gain a good understanding of the political aspects of religion

2. Students should be able to show how and why theories about religion have evolved over time

  • Learning activities
    Lectures, class discussions
  • Teaching support
    Lectures, Canvas, supervision
  • Syllabus

    Syllabus will vary from lecture to lecture (see belov), a compendum will be made

    1) Theoretical views on religion, and the secularization thesis

    Readings

    Peter L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (Garden City:

    Doubleday, 1967- New York: Anchor Press, 1990), 87.

    Hansen, mesøy and Kardas (2010): The Borders of Islam: Exploring Samuel Huntingdon's Faultlines, from Al-Andalus to Virtual Ummah (hurst: Colombia university press), introduction

    Thomas, S. M., 2010. Forthcoming. Survey of religion and international relations: the world ahead. Foreign Affairs, 89 (6).

    Thomas, S. M., 2005. The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Oliver Roy (2010) holy ignorance (Hurst:London)

    2) What is political Islam

    Oliver Roy, Globalised Islam: The Search For a New Ummah, (London: C. Hurst. Co. Ltd, 2004).

    Hansen, mesøy and Kardas (2010): The Borders of Islam: Exploring Samuel Huntingdon's Faultlines, from Al-Andalus to Virtual Ummah-#8221- (hurst: Colombia university press), introduction

    Esposito, John, L. and Voll, John Obert, Islam and Democracy, New

    York: Oxford University Press, 1996

    Esposito, John, L. and Voll, John Obert, Makers of Contemporary

    Islam, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001

    Bernard Lewis The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror (2003)

    Thomas Hegghammer (2009) 'Jihadi Salafis or Revolutionaries: On Religion and Politics in the Study of Islamist Militancy', in R Meijer (ed), Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement, (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2009), pp. 244-266.

    3) The Muslim Broterhood, early political Islam, and the Iranian revolution

    Hansen, mesøy and Kardas (2010): The Borders of Islam: Exploring Samuel Huntingdon's Faultlines, from Al-Andalus to Virtual Ummah (Hurst: Colombia university press), regional introduction, middle east

    Hansen - Mesøy (2009): The Muslim brotherhood at the wider horn of Africa, NIBR Report 2009:33.www.nibr.no/uploads/publications/06d76b6e0d14594c9a753c487ed50e51.pdf

    Leiken. Robert S. Steven Brooke (2007), The Moderate Muslim

    Brotherhood. Foreign Affairs. March/April 2007

    Vidino, Lorenso (2005), The Muslim Brotherhood-#8217-s conquest of

    Europe, Middle East Quarterly 12 (1)

    Zollner, Barbara H.E., The Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al- Hudaibi and Ideology, Rutledge Oxon, 2009,2-3

    Mitchell P. Richard, The Society of the Muslim Brothers (London-

    Oxford University Press, 1969)

    4) Iran, Hizbollah, Hamas, Taliban and Shebab

    Hansen, mesøy and Kardas (2010): The Borders of Islam: Exploring Samuel Huntingdon's Faultlines, from Al-Andalus to Virtual Ummah- (hurst: Colombia university press), Libanon and Palestine chapters

    Jeroen Gunning (2008) Hamas in Politics: Democracy, Religion, Violence, Colombia University Press

    Saul Mishal and Avraham Selah (2000) The Palestinian Hamas new York, Colombia university press.

    Hansen, mesøy and Kardas (2010): The Borders of Islam: Exploring Samuel Huntingdon's Faultlines, from Al-Andalus to Virtual Ummah (hurst: Colombia university press),Afghanistan and Somalia chapters

    Antonio Giustozzi (2010):Decoding the new Taliban, insights from the Afghanistan field (Hurst/CUP)

    5) Al Qaeda and affiliates

    Giles Kepell, Jean- Pierre Mielli Al Qaeda in Its Own Words (2009), Harward university press

    Bruce Hoffman, Osama bin Laden Still Matters Foreign Affairs May/june 2008

    Mark Sageman (2008):Leaderless jihad Penysvania University Press

    Books include the following:

    Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism, and Socialism by Michael W. Doyle

    Baylis, John, and Smith, Steve. (eds) The Globalization of World Politics: An

    Introduction to International Relations. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

    Williams, Michael C. The Realist Tradition and the Limits of International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

    A.G. Frank, 'The Development of Underdevelopment,' and 'Economic Dependence, Class Structure, and Underdevelopment Policy,' both in Cockcroft, Frank, and Johnson (ed.), Dependence and Underdevelopment, 1972, pp. 3-45 (on electronic reserve)-

    Joel S. Migdal, 'Studying the State,' in Lichbach and Zuckerman (eds.), Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure

  • Prerequisites
    EDS374
  • Recommended prerequisites
    EDS203
  • Assessment method
    Combined assessment. Term paper (6000 words) counts 40%, and final written exam, 2 hours, counts 60% of final grade

    Term paper Karakterregel: Letter grades Written exam Karakterregel: Letter grades Hjelpemiddel: A1 No calculator, no other aids
  • Examiner scheme
    External examiner will evaluate term papers
  • Mandatory activity
    2/3 attendance
  • Teaching hours
    Nominal workload 48 hours of lectures and seminars. In addition the students do extensive reading and individual studies, and write a term paper wich will amount to 202 hours. The total student working hours will be around 250 hours.
  • Preferential right
    M-IR
  • Admission requirements
    Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse)