Suspended in 2025/26
IR465 One Unit
The International Politics of Culture and Religion
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Katerina Dalacoura
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe, MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe (LSE & Columbia), MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe (LSE & Sciences Po), MSc in Human Rights, MSc in Human Rights and Politics, MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in International Relations (Research) and MSc in Social Anthropology (Religion in the Contemporary World). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
All International Relations courses are ‘Controlled Access’. Please see the LSE Selecting Courses webpage for information on how to apply and contact IR.Programmes@lse.ac.uk only if you require further information.
All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You. Admission is not guaranteed.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
Background in International Relations or a related discipline.
Course content
The overall objective of the course will be to explore the role of culture and religion in the discipline of IR from both a theoretical and an empiricalperspective, using Islam as a major case study. The first part of the course will place culture and religion within the broader context of global history,global modernity and social science. In its second part, the course will concentrate on the role of culture and religion in a number of international relations theories, such as constructivism, the English School, cosmopolitanism and communitarianism, historical sociology, post-colonialism and feminism. The third part of the course will examine the role that cultural and religious issues play in the practice of international relations and in particular their influence on international norms, foreign policy, conflict and war and theories of the state.
Teaching
2 hours of seminars in the Spring Term.
20 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the AT and 2 essays in the WT.
Formative essays 2,000 words.
Indicative reading
A detailed reading list will be available online and in printed form well before the first lecture/seminar.
W.C. Smith (1991) The Meaning and End of Religion (Fortress Press).
Monica Toft (2013) ‘Religion and International Relations Theory’, in: Risse, Thomas, Walter
Carlsnaes, and Beth A Simmons. Handbook of International Relations, edited by Thomas Risse, et al. (SAGE Publications)
Christian Reus-Smit (2018) On Cultural Diversity (Cambridge University Press)
Brenda Shaffer, ed. (2006) The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy (MIT Press)
Ashis Nandy (1988) The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under Colonialism (Oxford University Press)
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 180 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Key facts
Department: International Relations
Course Study Period: Autumn, Winter and Spring Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.