Post-Bipolar Order in Crisis: The Challenge of Politicised Islam
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Bassam Tibi |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030501 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
© Millennium: Journal of Int ernational Studies 2000. ISSN 0305-829 8. Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 843-85 9
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Post-Bipolar Order in Crisis: The
Challenge of Politicised Islam
Bassam Tibi
Since the demise of bipolarity and the Cold War, the nature of the international
system and hence of internatio nal studies ha s radically changed. Traditional
Internation al Relation s (IR) theory is no t equipped to deal with th e new challenges.
Religion and its p oliticisation, for instance, are now amo ng the issue areas that
should be studied by IR, but mo st existing theories hav e little to say about these
phenomena. Although there are, of course, sociologists and anthropologists who, in
the tradition of Max W eber an d of Emile Durckheim, consider the relationship
between religion and society, the study of religion, traditionally belonged to the
concerns of div inity schools.1
Among the fac tors tha t contribut ed to a rise of atte ntion in reli gion in
internatio nal studies are conte mporary dev elopments in the Isla mic c ivilisation.
The Islamic Revolution in Iran has been the foremost event in thi s respect, and
represents an openi ng of nov el pivotal issu es, such a s calls for de-Westernisation
and the cha llenge of an alternat ive political order. These d evelopments (along with
the addressed changes in the international system) have contributed to increasingly
focussing on po litical Islam as the foremost case of the p oliticisation of religion.
In th e post-bipolar era religion is becomin g increasingly p oliticised, and in this
capacity, pertinent for the study of international politics.2 In the years o f th e East-
West-Conflict , the IR community was divided alo ng the line s of those who stud y
the political economy o f the global system and t hose focussi ng on conservative
security and strategic studies. Thi s debate did not ta ke into account that religion, if
politicise d, could beco me an ideo logy that matters for intern ational affairs: to use a
phrase coin ed by Maxime Rodinso n, religion co uld become a social po wer in itse lf
when it a ssumes the functio n o f an idéologie mobilisat rice (mobilisatory
ideology).3 In partic ular, unive rsalist religio ns provide grounds for politica l
internatio nalism based on a religio us orientat ion. As the German philo sopher Ernst
Bloch suggests, in times of crisis relig ion n ot o nly b ecomes a vehicle for the
1. Clifford Geertz, ‘Religion as a Cultural System’, in The Interpretation of Cultures (New York : Basic
Books, 1973). See also th e reader on sociology of reli gion, Friedri ch Fürstenberg, ed.,
Religionssoziolo gie (Neuwied: Luchterhand, 196 4) and Bassam Tibi, ‘Th e Politicization of Religion’,
Internationale Politik, Tran satlantik Edition 1, no. 2 (2000): 65-70.
2. For an earlier approach see Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion (San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 19 78).
3. Maxime Rodinson , Mohammed (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1961).
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articulatio n of dissent, it can also constitute one of it s very und erlying pillars.4 In
this art icle the focus is on Islam; its po tential to rise as a political religio n and its
explicit u niversalism that can easily a ssume the shape of a mode rn political
internationalism.
My basic argument cent res aro und the revival of religion on grounds of its
politicisation. In the tradition of Hedley Bull my reasoning revolves around the
concept of order. First, I analyse the Islamic conceptio n of order, and enquire into
the challenge s it po ses for western secula r models like the natio n-state.
Subsequent ly, I critically asse ss the Iranian Islamic R epublic as the first alleg ed
Islamic order. In the concluding part of the paper, I attempt to challenge
Khomeini’s call for confront ation by presenting a formula for inter-civilisational
dialogue. I am aware of the normative character o f this effort, but I believ e that
dialogue is a vit al option for peace in our glo bal age.
The Politici sation of Islam and International Politi cs
The poi nt of departure and the focus of this a rticle is the reviv al of religion, which
has to be analysed in the light o f the crisis of order in post-bi polar internatio nal
politics. The p oliticisation of Islam, in pa rticular, affects world pol itics; the Islamic
revival primaril y promotes de-Westernisatio n a nd thus challenges the Western
understanding of world order.5
Long before Samuel Huntington coined his disputed formula of The Clash o f
Civilisations,6 the French social scientist Raymon d Aron, in Paix et Guerre entre
les Nations, p redicted tha t the end o f bipola rity would uncover the true lines of
conflict withi n humanit y and also withi n world affairs. Aron addressed this issue in
terms of the perti nence of the ‘heterog eneity of civilisati ons’ to inte rnational
politics.7 This heterogene ity is base d o n the existence of different worldvie ws
and—along the se lines—of different conce pts of international order. With t he
exception of Western civili sation, almos t all other civi lisations are closely
intertwined to a specific religious system. In the case of Islam, new conce pts of
order are based on the close co nnection between religion and pol itics.
To understand the dynamic relationship b etween religio n and p olitical order, a
philosop hical ap proach, such as the one of Aron and B ull is pivotal.8 In this
tradition, Islamism, b eing the exp ression of Isl amic revival, should be
conceptua lised as mainl y pol itical rat her t han religious; the Islamic concept of
order indicates precisely an ide ological convi ction rather than a reli gious belie f,
and presents a rad ical challenge to world order.
4. Ernst Bloch, Thoma s Münzer als Theologe der Revolution (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1972).
5. Graham Fuller and Ian Lesser, A Sense of S iege: The Geop olitics of Islam and the W est (Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 19 95). S ee al so Adeed Dawisha, ed., Islam in Foreign Pol icy (C ambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1 983).
6. Samuel Huntington, The Cla sh of Civilizations and the Remaking o f World Order (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 199 7).
7. Raymond Aron, Paix et Guerre en tre les Nations (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1962).
8. Hedley Bull, The Ana rchical Society (London: Macmillan, 1977).
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