Freedom of Religion or Belief amid Great Power Rivalry: Geopolitics and the Future of FoRB Scholarship and Strategy

Robert J. Joustra

The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 2025, vol. 23, issue 4, 57-75

Abstract: The pace of change and disruption in international relations prompts the question: Does the existing scholarship for the advancement of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in international affairs meet the needs of our new moment? This article will argue, first, that the challenge to FoRB has largely coalesced in recent years into two main scholarly arguments: what Jonathan Fox calls the “secular-religious competition,” but which I have reorganized as the “pluralist/anti-pluralist” competition. Second, it will take up each of these challenges in summary, suggesting that the progressive challenge is in retreat, while the third, the nationalist challenge, is in ascendancy. Fourth, this article will provide a brief summary of the pluralist/constructive scholarly approaches, arguing that while these are indeed helpful, they fail to make a convincing and coherent theory for why FoRB should be advanced and ultimately to meet the challenge of today’s shifting geopolitics. I conclude with an argument that the concept of covenantal pluralism is an especially helpful organizing category for new approaches needed in FoRB scholarship and strategy.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/15570274.2025.2545132

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