A "political theology," as I use the term here, is a society's understanding of its ultimate meaning in the context of reality as a whole, and in particular in light of what is taken to be divine or ultimate reality. Because human beings collectively as well as individually need their lives to have meaning, they will have a political theology of some sort, whether explicit or implicit, whether ...

This article explores the concept of civil religion from the perspective of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It starts with a discussion of the essence of sovereignty as the implementation of general will, which, the author explains, is manifested in the obedience of the laws. The article then discusses the way in which, in Rousseau’s view, institutional mechanisms work and thereupon explores how he envi...

In the past ten years there has been increasing interest in rigorous, quantitative analysis of the determinants of civil war, ethnic violence, and other forms of domestic conflict. Scholars have analyzed the impact of ethno-linguistic fractionalization, terrain, economic growth, natural resources, and a variety of other factors. Little attention, however, has been paid to quantitatively estimat...

this article explores the concept of civil religion from the perspective of jean-jacques rousseau. it starts with a discussion of the essence of sovereignty as the implementation of general will, which, the author explains, is manifested in the obedience of the laws. the article then discusses the way in which, in rousseau’s view, institutional mechanisms work and thereupon explores how he envi...

[Abstract: This study examines the interaction between religion and politics in Sri Lanka. Existing scholarly studies on Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict largely address the ethnic dimension of the conflict. Indeed, in the understanding of Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war, which has left 70,000 dead and displaced nearly a half-million people at its height generally, religion is rarely identified as hav...