Religious Soft Power as Accountability Mechanism for Power in World Politics

Sherrie Steiner

SAGE Open, 2011, vol. 1, issue 3, 2158244011428085

Abstract: This case study of the InterFaith Leaders’ Summit(s) from 2005 to 2010 expands the concept of “soft power†as an accountability mechanism to include religious soft power. This article explores the theoretical validity of a Faith-Based Accountability Mechanism (FAM) as a macro-level explanatory unit. The interfaith leaders exercise public reputational and peer accountability among their constituents in relation to the G8/G20 leaders. The theoretical validity of the dialogue process is not contingent on political leader responsiveness but is ascertained using a complex theoretical standard for assessing the legitimacy of global governance institutions against which observations are then gauged. The InterFaith Dialogue Mechanism is a specific illustration of a FAM that shows increasing compliance with the complex standard between 2005 and 2010. The Dialogue Mechanism FAM is a form of religious soft power that combines soft institution with soft technique. The next stage in the research is to identify specific characteristics of the FAM ideal type.

Keywords: accountability; legitimation; soft power; religion; governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:1:y:2011:i:3:p:2158244011428085

DOI: 10.1177/2158244011428085

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