Offensive religious conflict and defensive religious conflict: a geopolitics perspective

Аннотация

The discussion of the offensive religious conflict in this paper emphasizes on the fact that those regional groups are offensive only because of their dissatisfaction with the status quo and their ability of resorting to force. The purpose of provoking conflict is the pursuit of absolute security as well as maximized benefit in fighting for religious survival space. And the ultimate goal of defensive religious conflict is whether or not to maintain a relatively safe independent development of their own state. The concern about the intentions, abilities and consequences of religious confrontation is the attempt to transform the international relations theory from political realism to religious realism. In the geopolitical sense, if there is no strong enough external force to dominate or intervene, or effective balance of consensus mechanism, then the regional advantageous religious power that are not satisfied with the status quo and have a certain degree of violent may ensure their living space and maximize their religious power through active “self-help”. And the religious conflict of the purpose of obtaining a relatively safe living space is essentially a respect for the idea that the various religious forces can coexist in the same region.