Religious Authorities, Peace, and Political Conflict: Assessing the Impacts of Pope John Paul II's International Travels

Camille Laville ()
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Camille Laville: CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne

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Abstract: Between 1978 and 2005, Pope John Paul II traveled to 102 developing countries with the aim, inter alia, of promoting interreligious peace to populations and policy makers. Despite an increasing involvement of religious leaders in peace-building activities, concerns rise on the propensity of religious issues to be locally exploited for political interests. This article examines the dynamic effects of John Paul II travels on the risk of political conflict in host countries depending on their religious demography. Our empirical strategy combines the development of a political conflict risk index, an impact assessment methodology, and the estimation of local projections. Our results show that the travels of John Paul II reduce the risk of conflict in host countries over a 4-year horizon, particularly when the proportion of Catholics is low. We also observe a temporary rise in the risk of conflict for religiously polarized countries.

Keywords: Religious identity; Political conflict; Religious leadership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-02
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://uca.hal.science/hal-03137434v1
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