Religion and Conflict in South and Southeast Asia

This new book advances comparative and multidisciplinary scholarship on the alignment of religion and violence in the contemporary world, with particular attention to South and Southeast Asia. This region is the site of recent and emerging democracies, a high degree of religious pluralism, the largest Muslim populations in the world, and several well-organized terrorist groups, making understanding of the dynamics of religious conflict and violence particularly urgent. Is there, for example, an intrinsic connection between religion and violence, making religion part of the problem not the solution? Is religious terrorism rooted in religion, or is it cloaked by religion? Is religious violence a misnomer, an indication that authentic religion has been hijacked? What difference, if any, does this make for policy interventions? By bringing scholars from religious studies, political science, sociology, anthropology and international relations into conversation with each other, our volume brings much needed attention to the role of religion in fostering violence in the region and addresses strategies for its containment or resolution. The dearth of other literature on the intersection of religion, politics and violence in contemporary South and Southeast Asia makes the timing of this book particularly relevant. This book will of great interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Asian politics, Security Studies and Conflict Studies.