This new book tackles two crucial questions: First, how does religion in its various forms and manifestations influence world politics? Second, how will adding religion to the discourse on international relations modify our theoretical understanding?

Each of these leading authors addresses different aspects of these questions in different contexts providing a diverse and multifaceted view of the topic.

Susanna Pearce and Tanja Ellingsen examine the religious causes of conflict on the macro-level. Several of the contributors focus on specific conflicts. The Gaurav Ghose and Patrick James examine the Kashmir conflict from the Pakistani perspective and Carolyn James and Ozgur. Ozdamar examine it from the Indian perspective. Similarly Hillel Frisch examines the Palestinian-ISraeli conflict from the Palestinian perspective and Jonathan Rynhold examines it from the Israeli perspective. Finally, two of the authors examine other important issues. Stuart Cohen examines the evolution of the religious view of war in the Jewish tradition and Yehudit Auerbach examines whether can play a role in conflict resolution and reconciliation. These assessments deliver fascinating conclusions.

This book was previously published as a Special Issue of Terrorism and Violence.