Conflict and Peace

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of religion in war and peacebuilding processes, drawing from empirical studies in peace and conflict research. Distinguishing between the onset and escalation of conflicts, I show how religious factors may help to create the underlying structural conditions and proximity causes that spark wars and violence, but also contribute to intensification of conflicts, polarization, and increase in hostile demands including religious factors behind the intractability and challenges of peaceful conflict resolution. Yet, religious factors are also important in accounting for peaceful developments. Thus, this chapter identifies the different conditions under which religion influences peace, which have also spurned the interests of peace and conflict scholars. Religion can increase the chance for nonviolent uprisings, and religious actors are often important in peacemaking processes, including in re-interpreting radical and militant religious messages into more peaceful ones. In the end, I draw the two areas of research on religious dynamics – peace and conflict – together by laying out some of the most important avenues for future research.