Political theology

Political theology as an approach to International Relations (IR) studies the influence of theological ideas and religious concepts on international relations . In its broader sense, it posits that all politics has theology embedded in it and that politics and theology cannot be separated. Political theology is situated within the wider post-secular turn in political theory and IR. It either makes the genealogical claim that traditional IR concepts, such as anarchy, sovereignty, rights, order, balance of power or perpetual peace, carry the ineradicable trace of their theological origins, or the more ontological claim that religious spirituality is an inescapable and integral dimension of humanity's ethico-political imagination and can thus inspire ethical, critical and more just visions of international and world order. This entry reviews the development of political theology as an approach beyond and within IR and outlines three common approaches to the investigation of political theology within IR.