The Problem of Religious Wars

In 2005, Martin E. Marty wrote that "the collisions of faith, or the collisions of peoples of faith, are among the most threatening conflicts around the world in the new millennium. They grow more ominous and lethal every season". What is the scourge of religious violence in today's world? How can religious war be understood? Are conflicts involving a religious dimension particularly horrid; and how can religious conflict be solved?

We have invited two world leading scholars on the religion-conflict nexus to shed light on these questions. Based on their ongoing research, they give an overview of key patterns and processes linking religion with violent conflict in today's world, and discuss what it takes to end such conflicts.

Monica Duffy Toft is a Professor of Political Science in the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. She has published extensively on armed conflicts in general, and religion as a factor in conflict in particular.

Isak Svensson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Uppsala and the former Director of Research, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, New Zeeland. He is an expert on religious dimensions of peace and conflicts processes; and has published in particular on how religious conflicts can be resolved.

Scott Gates is a Research Professor and Director for the Centre for the Study of Civil War at PRIO. He is an expert on Applied Game Theoretic Analysis, International Relations Theory, International Political Economy, Formal Models of Bureaucracy, and Economic Modeling; and has recently focused on how religion functions in recruitment and retention in rebel groups, and what this means for conflict processes.