Inquisitive, relevant, thought-provoking. A blog for reflection on religion as an element of public life, coordinated by the Centre for Religion, Conflict and Globalisation, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen.
Over the past few days, the planned UN peace mission to Mali has been covered in the news extensively. In this post Martijn van Loon analyzes the motivation for the Dutch government to participate in this mission, based upon the ‘artikel 100-brief’ discussed in the parliament last week. He observes that the role of religion …
Continue reading "Travel Plans: Understanding Religion in Mali"
Suzanne Klein Schaarsberg continues her exploration of the securitization of religion in the conflicts in Mali and Syria. In Part One of this post, I discussed securitization as the tool that enables competing conceptions of the threat posed by Al Qaeda to exist in the worldviews of the same actors. In Part Two, I want …
Continue reading "Securitizing Religious Violence: the Cases of Mali and Syria – Part Two"
Yesterday French President Francois Hollande announced that French troops will begin withdrawing from Mali in April, instead of March, as originally planned. Suzanne Klein Schaarsberg explores how religion, particularly religious violence, has been labelled as a threat in the political rhetoric surrounding Mali... but not Syria. A common assumption in public discourse and in academic …
Continue reading "Securitizing Religious Violence: the Cases of Mali and Syria – Part One"
