From an interview with Elizabeth Shakman Hurd on her book, The Politics of Secularism in International Relations:
The central puzzle of my book is how might we begin to think about secularism, and eventually, secularisms in the plural, as forms of political authority in contemporary international relations. What does this mean for international relations theory and for understanding the resurgence of religion? What kinds of politics follow from different forms of secular commitments, traditions, habits, and beliefs? I argue that the secularist division between religion and politics is not fixed but socially and historically constructed. I then suggest that the failure to recognize this helps to explain why international relations theory and practice has been unable to come to terms with secularism and religion (they go together) as forms of authority in world politics.
Read the full interview at Religion Dispatches.
Laura Duane is a former editorial assistant for The Immanent Frame and regular contributor to here & there. Currently an editorial assistant at a major publishing house, she holds a B.A. in religion from Columbia University, where she studied religious minorities in diaspora.
