God is Winning: Religion in Global Politics

Timothy Shah, Monica Duffy Toft

February 1, 2009

Authors Shah and Duffy Toft argue that there is an increasing trend of victories of “prophetic politics” in both winning over public opinion and democratic elections – a trend that can be observed throughout the world. It is a trend that runs against widespread notions of secularization and modernization theories that have formed the backbone of American international relations theory and practice over the past four decades. By asking “Is God dead?” as the famous TIME magazine cover did in the 1960s, the foreign policy establishment has ignored the resurgence of religious politics in many parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East. Shah and Toft conclude that the predominant secular framework of analyzing international politics has imprisoned American policy analysts and decision-makers. This constitutes strategic failures and the authors urge the policy establishment to abandon the extraordinarily stubborn secularist habit in order to navigate in a world where God is winning, and getting stronger.

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